One day, when his electric rice cooker, a popular Cuckoo, informed him that his meal was ready, Jaha Koo experienced the golibmuwon, an untranslatable Korean word expressing the feeling of isolation that characterises the lives of many young people in his country – the result, mainly, of an economic crisis that devastated South Korea about 20 years ago. Onstage, with three of these cookers, the interpreter presents a lecture-performance that dives into the history of his country. Combining documentary images, music and humorous dialogues, the artist investigates endemic issues impacting his generation – such as rising suicide rates and social withdrawal – and builds a narrative from his personal experience and reflections on political events, happiness and death.

The Hamartia Trilogy

Cuckoo is the second part of Jaha Koo’s Hamartia Trilogy, together with the shows Lolling and Rolling and The History of Korean Western Theatre. The imperialism of the past and present, and its sometimes-unexpected personal impact are the common threads of these three works of documentary theatre presented at MITsp. In Greek, hamartia means “tragic flaw or shortcoming”, a concept that interweaves each of the works differently, which themes involve the clash between Eastern and Western cultures.

Trigger warning: contains suicide images and strobe light.