This is the opera “As the Moon Flows over the Water” presented in the Sejong Center for Performing Arts on November 20. But strangely the stage doesn’t look like those for other operas. It’s too sparse, and a piano is the only instrument to accompany the performance.

Scripts litter the table and music notes are open on the stands. Actors even blatantly look at them while they sing. This is called a reading performance. Here’s Director of Seoul Metropolitan Opera Lee Gun-yong이건용.

In reading performances there are no costumes, stage props, or even an orchestra. Actors don’t even memorize their lines, so they perform while looking at their scripts or music scores. Only the key characters appear for a reading performance and a piano usually accompanies for this practice. Although it is performed on stage, only the minimal amount of stage production is allowed, like turning on and off the lights.



This reading performance is sort of a trial run before the real one. The Seoul Metropolitan Opera planned this to get audience evaluations ahead of the actual performance.

Accurate critique is needed in mid-production. The best way to get objective feedback is to see the production from the audience, which led to reading performance. Some people ask, “How is it different from a dress rehearsal?” But then we would have to put on costumes, set up stage props, bring in an entire orchestra, so it would cost too much money. We don’t know how successful a production would be and it could be revised. So we just want to check out whether it would work with the barest necessities. This is why it’s called a reading performance. It’s sort of a midterm review.

The reading performance of “As the Moon Flows over the Water” earned a passing grade. It’s a great relief for Seoul Metropolitan Opera Director Lee Gun-yong.

The audience loved it. They even paid to see this trial production. They said it was very original. It’s much like listening to a radio drama in that it lets your imagination run wild. Just as you can imagine certain scenes based on just the voices and sound effects, the audience can enjoy a different kind of fun from this kind of performance. People were rather skeptical about the whole experience at first, but more and more people came in to fill all the seats. Their responses were great.

It would be a huge loss for the production company if the lavishly invested show failed to draw a sufficient crowd to at least break-even. So a reading performance is a test run to see how an audience would respond and what parts can be revised. Such test performances are actually quite popular among recent theatergoers. It’s a win-win situation for both the audience and the producers, because it allows the producers to get a preliminary audience response and the audience to take part in the theater-making process and boost their understanding of the piece. Interactive communication is the buzzword in today’s world of performing arts.

Originally reading performances were undisclosed mid-term previews for investors and business insiders. But a while back it opened to the general public to get their feedback. Culture and arts sectors are changing from the closed, exclusive environment to an open and interactive one. Here’s culture critic Kim Heon-shik김헌식.

Usually performing arts people were very restrictive and esoteric. People involved in production and those watching the finished act were completely separate. The barriers separating them were very clear, so much so that the audiences were practically excluded from the whole production process. But lately the level of expertise and infatuation with performing arts rose significantly among the general public, compelling the industry to meet people’s demands and high standards. The industry’s exclusivity discouraged people from expressing their responses before, and performing arts people blamed the public’s ignorance or disinterest if their shows failed to draw a big crowd. But now they seemed to have realized that they have failed to incorporate what people actually want to see in their productions. So they decided to open up the pre-performance process in order to incorporate people’s demands and improve the quality of their productions.

It is not uncommon that a highly anticipated show would turn out to be a flop and a small, little-advertised production would get rave reviews from both the critics and the general audience. This is why producers began to pay attention to preliminary audience reactions. Here’s culture critic Kim Heon-shik again.

Reading performances and workshop performances began about three or four years ago. Before then a reading had usually been done in front of producers or investors, but now it is shown to an actual audience. It’s a test to see what the public thinks about the show or whether the producer’s intention and messages get through to the audience. It’s also a chance for producers and actors to find elements they can improve upon.

By disclosing these practice runs to the audience, the public is treated to a richer variety of cultural and artistic shows. It’s like getting a bonus of workshop performances in addition to the real productions.



The latest trend in culture and arts is the emergence of cultural and liberal arts classes. Frankly, performing arts were too snobbish for the general audience, tending to satisfy only experts and enthusiasts. Even when the public wanted to understand a production and feel the emotions intended by the producers and actors, they lacked the knowledge or empathy with the shows to do that. Therefore, lectures or workshops were organized to explain the show’s intents or key points. Such attempts made performing arts pieces more enjoyable for ordinary people, and consequently the industry increased the number of workshops and lectures to make better productions.

Actors loosen their faces and warm up their vocal cords before the show.

They also do some stretching to relax their muscles. This is a rehearsal for Shakespeare’s Othello to be staged in next January. Only one month is left until the play is showcased, so the production staff and cast members are totally focused on their readings and rehearsals.

The actors read their lines as if they are actually performing. It is followed by a string of critiques.

The Othello production team is not leaving out anything in the review. They are planning a workshop performance soon and here’s director Park Ji-hye to tell us more.

We reveal our preparation process at the workshop performance. We show what we are experimenting with and how we’re planning a production. It’s an occasion to share with the audience what we’re trying to show through Othello. For instance, I’m going to select just three acts and show them to the audience to see their reaction.

A reading performance is a pre-run assessment of an entire play, but a workshop performance is a chance to get audience reactions on a play’s unique composition or direction. Director Park Ji-hye says such workshop performances are a great help to her work.

It really helps a lot. It gives the staff a chance to review key aspects of the play and get objective feedback. Whether there is an audience or not is beside the point. It gives us a chance to evaluate our work objectively and see it through the eyes of others. Such a system is really important and helpful to us, and motivates us to discover new things.

Sometimes an experiment planned by the production crew fails to get the anticipated reaction during a workshop performance. It is admittedly disappointing, but it could also serve as a wakeup call. Still, the cast members and production team are excited to get several chances to test their takes on an audience and build up their confidence. Here’s Othello’s cast member Yang Jong-wook for more.

We can make bolder attempts in the workshop performances than in the actual ones. Experimenting with acting and directorial methods are what workshop performances are all about, so we’re not afraid to make mistakes. Finding room for improvement gives us the courage to try out new things and view the production with a long-term perspective.

It would be a mistake to think that a workshop or a reading performance would be carried out in front of an almost-empty audience. These performances are always sold out, attesting to their popularity. Here’s culture critic Kim Heon-shik.

These performances are raw. Actual performances are complete, with all the stage props, costumes, lights, and music, reading while workshop performances are raw and incomplete. Their essences are bared to the audience so that they can grasp the meaning of the production better. Also, the frankness of the cast members and production staff is more convincing and evokes more genuine interest from the audience. Rather than passively watching what a production company shows you, today’s audience wants to get involved in the whole process.

This is Sister Mokran currently being shown at Doosan Art Center. This award-winning play is about a North Korean refugee and her poignant story. The production has won such great reviews that it has gone into an encore run. This play also first met with the general audience through a reading performance two years ago.

It was an original play so I wanted a reading performance to gauge audience reaction and find shortcomings ahead of the real performance. Just reading the scripts can be boring, but these days separate scripts were written just for such reading performances to give audiences something to build their imaginations. So some visual elements are added to the reading to make the whole experience more appealing.

Sister Mokran’s ending was changed after discussing it with the audience at the end of the reading performance. It was decided that the ending should reflect the painful reality of Korea’s division, doubling the emotional impact felt after the show. It was hard for the audience members to forget the sad life of the North Korean woman Mokran.

(Woman 1) I thought it would be a happy ending, but it actually wasn’t. That’s what reality is. It was sad.
(Woman 2) What I remember the most is how the leading character was forced to make a realistic choice at the end.


Communicating with the audience has become an important part of performing arts productions. When the whole industry is struggling due to the prolonged economic downturn, achieving intimacy and building personal affinity between a production and an audience is an effective way to survive the hard times.