ESTC finished the performance of Richard III, the last play of the 8 histories of "The Wars of the Roses" at the 'Daloreum' (Moon-rising) Hall of the National Theatre in Seoul Korea in 2012. From 2013 the theatre group began to work with 4 great tragedies Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear, and Othello, because there were no more Shakespeare premiere play left for it. The founder and director of the theatre troupe ESTC, Nam Yook Hyon, who has directed and performed all the plays of the company, translated himself for his new performances Macbeth, Hamlet, King Lear into his mother tongue Korean. And he staged the great four plays one after another at the Theatre Elim Hall, Daehakro in Seoul from 2013 to 2017. Especially ESTC also performed 6-hour no-cut version Hamlet for the first time in Korean performing history in Seoul, 21 September - 2 October 2016, for the memorial service of the 400 anniversary of Shakespeare's death. The complete Hamlet performance without cutting a word began at four pm and finished at 10 pm including one hour intermission for dinner time from 6 to 7 pm.
Shakespeare Specialist Theatre Troupe ESTC
ESTC?
ESTC is the initials of the name of the Eurasia Shakespeare Theatre Company that was founded by some Shakespeare loving Korean players including the leading director Nam, Yook Hyon on 2 February 2002 in Seoul, South Korea.
ESTC ㅡ Eurasia Shakespeare Theatre Company, the only one Shakespeare specialist theatre troupe in South Korea with more than 50 million people ㅡ performs all Shakespeare works (39 plays) since 2002. Until now 2017 the theatre company has performed 19 Shakespearean plays, 14 plays are Korean premieres.
Our audiences have watched for about 15 years the new Shakespeare performances of the theatre group, ESTC (Eurasia Shakespeare Theatre Company), the only one Shakespeare Specialist Theatre Troupe in Korea that proceeds all the stage productions for the complete Shakespeare works (39 plays). ESTC had consistently performed 19 Shakespeare plays until the year 2017 since 2002, the troupe's foundation year ㅡ including 14 Shakespearean premieres in Korea. First of all the four comedies ㅡ Two Gentlemen of Verona, Much Ado About Nothing, All's Well That Ends Well, Love's Labour's Lost, and 8 history plays of "The Wars of the Roses" ㅡ King Richard II, King Henry IV, Part 1, King Henry IV, Part 2, King Henry V, King Henry VI, Part 1, King Henry VI, Part 2, King Henry VI, Part 3, King Richard III ㅡ and also two more histories King John, King Edward III, and one tragedy Timon of Athens. The plays were staged in the theatres of the Seoul Arts Centre, the National Theatre, and in some theatre spaces of Daehakro ㅡ probably the most crowded theatrical area in the world ㅡ around Dongsung-dong, Jongro-gu, central Seoul, South Korea, from 2002 to 2012. Seoul with about 10 million people has been the capital city for about 600 years of the Korean peninsular, the very dynamic far-eastern Asian country in many fields including performing arts with more than 50 million people now.
From 2018 we ESTC are dealing with new Shakespearean major comedy series with new translations ㅡ A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, The Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night...
Our stage experiments are to be continued with the major comedies referred above and the popular play Romeo & Juliet and other mature plays - Julius Caesar, Antony & Cleopatra, Winter's Tale, Troilus & Cressida, The Tempest... and the rest of the works.
ESTC is also much interested in various remarkable experiments by modern dramatists A Chekhov, H Ibsen, O Wilde, G B Shaw, S Beckett, L Pirandello, E Ionesco, A Camus, J P Sartre, H Pinter, P Shaffer, E O'Neill, A Miller, T Williams, E Albee and many other new writers.
From the starting point with the fundamental ideological base of the theatre troupe's essential activity and its existential reason, ESTC resolved to perform consecutively all Shakespeare works for about two decades adding a new stage history in Korea. The theatre company is deeply interested in some original or fundamental dramatic thoughts and forms and styles as deeply rooted in the Greek or Roman theatrical works or many mainstream European Renaissance plays like Shakespearean dramatic works. Our theatre company has endeavored to seek basic value or worth of the original and ancient theatrical contents and forms in its making of dramatic moulds or roots at the beginnings of the birth of drama, theatre, or play. We members of the troupe ESTC would try to concentrate on the study of the essential and fundamental assets, especially in movement and speech, of dramatic arts and to seek new creative environment for the better theatrical future. This basic theatrical approach for the influential playwright Shakespeare is to pursue better comprehension of the works of the most loving dramatic artist in the world stage history and to find creative momentum for the better ways to improve our stage production culture. We believe our audiences have understood Shakespeare's works better by our daring experimental performances and also would enjoy the fruits of various further stage experiments about the rich playwright who has been loved over 400 years all around the world.