yle, dialogue and costume, it enjoyed remarkable popularity among rural people until the early 20th century.Pansori, the lengthy narrative songs based on popular tales, and Kkokdugaksinoreum or puppet plays, performed by vagrant artists, also drew large audiences. The shamanistic rituals known as gut were another form of religious theater that appealed to the general public. All these performances are seldom presented today. There are a few institutions that offer various performing arts in one place, an example of this being Jeong-dong Theater in central Seoul, that presents a traditional performing arts series, drama and music. The first performance of singeuk (new drama), a departure from the masked dance and other forms of olden-day dramas, was presented in December 1902. However, modern drama began to take firm root in the 1910s after the first Western-style theater was opened in Seoul in 1908. The theater named Wongaksa was in operation until November 1909. Theatrical groups "Hyeoksindan" and "Munsu-seong" were also organized by those who returned from study in Japan and staged sinpa (new wave) dramas. Sinpa was a concept that countered gupa (old wave) drama, meaning kabuki of Japan. Sinpa dramas first dealt with political and military themes and then diversified into detective stories, soap operas and tragedies. While sinpa dramas proved to be a passing fad, a genuine new wave of dramas was promoted by artists who rallied around Wongaksa and raised the curtain of modern drama. In 1922, Towolhoe, a coterie of theatrical figures, was formed, with this organization leading the drama movement across the country, staging as many as 87 performances. Drama remained popular until the 1930s, but then subsided in the socio-political turmoil of the 1940s and '50s. In the following decade, it was further weakened amidst the boom of motion pictures and the emergence of television. In the 1970s, a number of young artists began to study and ...
