Orange Polar Bear - a cross-cultural performance piece for teenagers in Seoul and Birmingham

Peter Wynne-Willson

Orange Polar Bear (2014-19) is an innovative bilingual theatre project created by Hanyong Theatre, the National Theatre Company of Korea and Birmingham Repertory Theatre. The main research aims were to develop a methodology for devising and presenting bilingual work in a way that maintains equality between collaborative partners, and, by focusing on the experience of teenagers in Seoul and Birmingham, to consider what young people can teach adults about bridging cross-cultural and language divisions. The research resulted in a novel methodology for devising bilingual theatre leading to a cross-cultural performance for young people in two languages, presented in the same form in South Korea and the UK. It was unique among Anglo-Korean collaborations for its focus on the experience of teenagers, and conscious balance of languages, cultures and practices. Additionally, the research demonstrates the value of adopting a child-led approach to creating cross-cultural theatre and has created new insights into long-term approaches to developing fair and equal cross-cultural partnerships.

The section in Orange Polar Bear when Jiyoung and William finally meet, in the ice world, and the convention changes, and the characters can understand each other. The surtitles stop at this point, and it gradually becomes clear that Jiyoung and William understand each other. This is the first and only moment in the piece where this happens. It is the convention used during 'Looking for Yoghurt', but here it has an extra element, in that there is some symbolic significance to the fact they now understand each other, the place in which their stories meet has become actual, and they are also aware of it. 'Oddly enough, I understand Korean here'

Tip

Tip