“Après girl” is a newly coined term that comes from the French word “après-guerre (post-war),” combined with “girl.” The term is used to the independent women who rejected feudal customs after the Korean War. The play Après Girl (directed by Kim Kwangbo and written by Ko Yeon-ok) is a joint production of the National Changgeuk Company of Korea, the National Dance Company of Korea, and the National Orchestra of Korea. The performance brings to the stage the struggles and passions of Park Nam-ok(starring Lee Soyeon), Korea’s first female filmmaker, in a predominantly male filmmaking environment.
Après Girl dramatizes Park Nam-ok’s sole directorial work The Widow and its filming process as a play within a play. The narrative interweaves The Widow, which depicts the struggles of the war widow’s sexual desire against convention, with the life of Park Nam-ok, documenting them through modern lens. It can be also seen as an expansion of the efforts by the National Changgeuk Company of Korea’s to trace the desires of women who have been silenced in the classical literature and reinterpret them with contemporary imagination—as seen at Sonyeo-ga (A Song of a Girl), and Madam Ong.
Just as the après girls explored individual loves, desires, and dreams on the border of tradition and new ideologies, the performance seamlessly strides through traditional and contemporary elements. The skilled sound of the National Orchestra of Korea was reinterpreted in various styles, including swing jazz by composer/music director Nah Sirin. Also noteworthy are the choreography of the National Dance Company of Korea, which captures Park Nam-ok’s inner world. [SHIN Dohyun]