While we’re all familiar with South Korean music, television and film not to mention its cuisine and cosmetics, the same cannot be said for contemporary Korean theatre – and that’s despite the presence of non-verbal comedy “Cookin’ Nanta” performing nightly here in Bangkok, albeit mostly to tourists.

Now, thanks to South Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism’s Korea Arts Management Service (KAMS), that’s about to change with the arrival in the Asean Economic Community (AEC) of two puppet theatre performances. Art Stage San’s “Dallae’s Story” and Performance Group Tuida’s “The Tale of Haruk” kick off their tour tomorrow at the Ice Palace in the Indonesian capital.

“Travelling Korean Arts is a new initiative to introduce Korean arts abroad in cooperation with Korean Cultural Centres (KCC). We now have 28 Korean Cultural Centres in 24 countries [including one here in Bangkok] and KAMS is supporting the presentation of performing arts and visual arts programmes of quality in cooperation with its local partners, be they venues, museums or festivals,” says Eunhee Kim, manager of KAMS’s International Business Development Office.

“It can be customised depending on region, genre and target. This upcoming Travelling Korean Arts Family is a targeted event focused on children’s theatre.

“For the Travelling Korean Arts initiative, we’ve set up a pool of programmes to represent Korean arts abroad from dance, music to children’s theatre. Indeed, we’ve received requests for children’s theatre from the KCCs in the AEC region. ‘Dallae’s story’ and ‘The Tale of Haruk’ have been highly acclaimed both at home and abroad. We believe these two works are a good starting point to introduce Korean children theatre to local audiences and artists.”

Based on the story of the Korean War in the 1950s, Art Stage San’s contemporary puppet theatre “Dallae’s Story” is not directly about the war itself, but shows the earnest attempts of a family to overcome all kinds of hardships.

Portrayed through a puppet, it shows how the title character used to admire the spring blossoms in the spring, go fishing with her father in summer, chased dragonflies and picked apples in autumn, and made a snowman in winter. Her life changes completely when the war breaks out and her dad enlists.

Korean traditional music, simple but effective sets, and a uniquely vivid combination of human performers and puppets have been combined into a wordless yet exciting performance that both children and their parents can equally enjoy.

The top prize winner at the Tolosa International Puppetry Festival in Titirijai, Spain, the show was highly praised by the festival co-director Miguel Arreche, who commented: “Art Stage San intelligently directs a production in which the charm and magic of puppets are combined with beautiful choreography. In my opinion, we’re facing one of the universal puppet theatre masterpieces of the last 10 years.”

Part of the French-Korean Year 2015-2016, “Dallae’s Story” was staged last month at Theatre de la ville, Paris and won rave reviews.

Performance Group Tuida, meanwhile, uses traditional Korean puppets made of paper, unique native masks and percussion instruments made of such eco-friendly materials as Korean paper, straw and hemp and even trash in telling “The Tale of Haruk” in a contemporary style. This lyrical and beautiful story of Haruk who ate everything he saw breaks down barriers of region, race, religion and rebirth to become an everyman’s tale with which anyone can sympathise.

Acclaimed the Best Production at the Seoul Children’s Theatre Awards when it premiered, the work later won both Best Production and Young Critics prizes for the first time in Russia’s International Theatre Kingfestival’s history.

Looking to the future, Kim cites a recent example of Korea-Thai collaboration, “‘Something Missing’ by Korea’s Theatre Momggol and Thailand’s B-Floor Theatre as already paving the way for collaboration in performing arts between the countries. The show actually became one of the winning productions at the Bangkok Theatre Festival awards last November.

“We hope exchanges and collaborations in the arts between Korea and AEC countries will become more active and fruitful. The ‘Travelling Korean Arts Family’ can be an opportunity to learn more about each other.”

The writer thanks KAMS’ Caiya Kang for all assistance.

BEYOND K-POP

• Art Stage San’s “Dallae’s Story” (non-verbal) will be performed at 7.30pm on Monday and Tuesday.
• Performance Group Tuida’s “The Tale of Haruk”, in Korean with English and Thai surtitles, is at 7.30pm on February 18 and 19.
• Both are part of World Performances@Drama Chula at the Sodsai Pantoomkomol Centre for Dramatic Arts on Henri Dunant road, a 10-minute walk from BTS Siam, exit 6.
• Admission is free but reservations are necessary. Call (081) 559 7252 or (02) 651 0165-8 or check http://www.Facebook.com/dramaartschula and http://www.Facebook.com/koreanculturalcenterTH.