This paper focuses on the socio-cultural phenomenon dealing with the reception of German theatre and drama in Korea. It describes a period of stronger affection within Korean society towards Western culture, here especially German theatre, in the nineteen sixties and seventies, correlating with the authoritarian society and its dictatorship. The research focuses on the motives and impact of the reception of German drama in Korea, characterized by two main aspects: The import of Western theatre, led by a younger generation of theatre professionals was interrelated with attempts to innovate the theatre form in Korea. Experimental theatre such as absurd theatre, grotesque theatre and epic theatre had an enormous impact on Korean theatre, and was regarded as the new form, which could reform or establish new theatre genres in Korea. While the reception of German theatre in the sixties was concentrated more or less on the formal aspect of theatre, the reception in the seventies after the Yushin (1972), was based rather on the conception that the theatre, facing oppression and harsh censorship by the military regime, could find ways of expression for social criticism with the assistance of foreign literature and theatre, which could provide analogies and comparisons in Korean society. In the late seventies then, along with the labour movement and the merging of social problems caused by rapid industrialization in Korea, socialistic authors such as Bertolt Brecht, and dramas with socialistic views had a strong impact on Korean theatre.

This paper focuses on the socio-cultural phenomenon dealing with the reception of German theatre and drama in Korea. It describes a period of stronger affection within Korean society towards Western culture, here especially German theatre, in the nineteen sixties and seventies, correlating with the authoritarian society and its dictatorship. The research focuses on the motives and impact of the reception of German drama in Korea, characterized by two main aspects: The import of Western theatre, led by a younger generation of theatre professionals was interrelated with attempts to innovate the theatre form in Korea. Experimental theatre such as absurd theatre, grotesque theatre and epic theatre had an enormous impact on Korean theatre, and was regarded as the new form, which could reform or establish new theatre genres in Korea. While the reception of German theatre in the sixties was concentrated more or less on the formal aspect of theatre, the reception in the seventies after the Yushin (1972), was based rather on the conception that the theatre, facing oppression and harsh censorship by the military regime, could find ways of expression for social criticism with the assistance of foreign literature and theatre, which could provide analogies and comparisons in Korean society. In the late seventies then, along with the labour movement and the merging of social problems caused by rapid industrialization in Korea, socialistic authors such as Bertolt Brecht, and dramas with socialistic views had a strong impact on Korean theatre.

Yushin u. Systemkritik, Analogie, Sozialkritik, Innovation im Theater, Madanggŭk.