Chuncheon is a city with a beautiful lake located 1.5 hours away from the metropolitan area by train. With its scenic view and original gourmet dakgalbi (spicy stir-fried chicken) restaurant, the city is a famous location among couples. Chuncheon also celebrates Puppet Festival Chuncheon every autumn, the largest-scale puppet festival in Korea with puppet performers from all over the world. This year marks the 32nd anniversary of the event since it began in 1989.
Puppet Festival Chuncheon is the largest of its kind in Asia, promoting puppetry development through exchanges with troupes from different parts of the world. The festival includes not only puppets but also different performance genres, workshops, and experience-based events.
One World: Together-at-Home Online Festival
Although this year’s festival has more troupes and performances than those in the previous year, overseas teams’ participation has been delayed until next year following the COVID-19 pandemic. The offline festival, scheduled to be held on Jul. 4 has been canceled and made available online.
Puppetry is a genre that’s completed through direct communication with the audiences, which the online version lacks. Yet, what’s good about having it online is the excellent accessibility it allows for puppetry regardless of distance and other circumstances. Also, many puppet performers have now learned about Puppet Festival Chuncheon and become interested in Korea’s puppetry.
32 Puppetry Shows Played Twice for 24 Hours
From Sep. 14 to Oct. 23, Puppet Festival Chuncheon’s YouTube channel will play 32 puppetry shows every day on different subjects and types of shows, from traditional fairy tales to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Hungry by Asteroid B-612, a story of happiness in a normal life; Sea Palace Climbed up with a Willow Tree by Kkumdongi Puppet Troupe, a fairy tale story-telling drawing show; and Once upon a Time on an Island by Studio Hat, a pop-up book–type puppetry, a story of love and sacrifice in wars and natural disasters. These are the new stories to be presented this time.
The first YouTube show will be played until Oct. 2, and the second one will be until Oct. 23. In November, the most-viewed shows will be replayed.
Online programs
- Sep. 14, Oct. 5
-
Yeonhui Workshop Eummakkaengkkaeng《Eummakkaengkkaeng Puppet》
Theater Sori 《The Wolf and the seven young kids》
- Sep. 15, Oct. 6
-
Gaegujaengi puppet troupe 《The Good Brothers and one more show》
Theatre_Insari 《Ppul》
- Sep. 16, Oct. 7
-
Beyond Imagination Troupe《Baby Theater On a Ship》
Puppet Troupe Friends 《Three Little Pigs》
- Sep 17, Oct. 8
-
Puppetry Theatre Lab, Ins 《My Friend, Calf》
Manet Sangsahwa《Puppet Fantasy》
- Sep. 18, Oct 9
-
Geumseol Art Center《Worrying Mom》
Theatre Ro.Gi.NaRae《Blue Bunny Lulu》
- Sep. 21, Oct. 12
-
Low Mountain《For Friends》
Playing Doll, Dollkki《Dolmen》
- Sep. 22, Oct. 13
-
Misuking《The beauty’s puppet play》
Batang《Suki the Painter》
Morning 《Like Friends》
Puppet Troupe Sweet and Bitter《Tree》
- Sep. 23, Oct. 14
-
Namu《A Day with a Story》
Small Theater H《Muni’s Door》
- Sep 24, Oct. 15
-
Bom 《Story-Teller, Tiger》
Lalala《I got one! I got one!》
- Sep. 25, Oct. 16
-
Theater Door 《Granpa Mangtae Comes》
Eternal Light 《Lost Mom for a While》
- Sep. 28, Oct. 19
-
Creator Troupe, Performer Next Door 《A Song for a Long Journey》
Parangsae《Coy and Clumsy》
- Sep. 29, Oct. 20
-
Puppet Troupe Atto《Finds the Polaris!》
Asteroid B-612《Hungry》
- Sep 30, Oct. 21
-
Puppet Troupe Owl’s Storeroom《100 Missing Marbles, Goejeongdong Cheongokgu》
Asan《Crooked Woman》
- Oct. 1 & 22
-
Kkumdongi Puppet Troupe 《Sea Palace Climbed up with a Willow Tree》
Kkumtri《Peekaboo》
- Oct. 2 & 23
-
Gansejaengi《Save the Earth》
Studio Hat 《Once upon a Time on an Island》
Another Festival, Puppetry Exhibition
If you’ve grown more interested in puppetry after watching the online performance, why don’t you visit Chuncheon Puppet Museum? Here, you can find around 200 local and international puppet collections as well as a material exhibition hall. Among them, Namsadang Nori (Itinerant Troupe Performance), National Intangible Cultural Heritage No. 3, and Guignol, the French character in a puppet show, are sure to entertain their audience.
“The Art of Puppet,” an exhibition starting from Oct. 15, consists of the “Archiving Exhibition,” about the history of puppetry, and “A Bag of 000,” about Puppet Festival Chuncheon. The Archiving Exhibition is a collection of paper, news articles, leaflets, books, and photos on puppetry from the 1960s to 2000s.
A Bag of 000 displays the objects, videos, and images of international troupes who could not attend the event because of COVID-19. There are artworks of 10 teams, from the UK, Japan, Canada, and Greece. Making puppet with cloth is popular among kids, where they make dog or people figures by tying the cloth with rubber. A reservation should made in advance to watch the show.
Info.
- Exhibition period: Oct. 15 – Dec. 31, 2020
- Opening hours: Tue–Sat (Off every Sundays and Mondays) 10:00, 11:00, 13:00, 14:00, 15:00, 16:00, 17:00
- Max. no of attendees: 10 at a time
- How to attend: Online reservation via https://forms.gle/pDJtzoCD34KkJuut9
- Ticket price: KRW 2,000, Experience event: KRW 2,000
- Inquiry: +82-33-242-8452
