Anchor: A rare dance performance centering on the last princess of Korea will take to the stage through Saturday. The play "Princess, Deokhye" sheds light on the sorrow and pain suffered by the princess during the late Joseon Period and commemorates 70 years of Korea’s independence from Japanese colonial rule.
Our Park Jong-hong has more.
 
Report: The play pays tribute to Princess Deokhye who lived a tragic and lamentable life during the last days of the Joseon Dynasty.
 
Born as the only daughter of King Kojong, Deokhye received much love since her birth.
 
During childhood, however, her life began to spiral after the death of her father and she found herself forced into an arranged marriage with a Japanese man.
 
Gyeonggi Provincial Dance Company has staged this creative play based on history.
 
Dancer Park Ji-yu who plays Lee Deokhye explains how her heart goes out to the princess whose young daughter died and who was tormented by grief for much of her life.
 
[Sound bite: Park Ji-yu – Dancer, Gyeonggi Provincial Dance Company (Korean)]
“In order to portray this figure, I have been thinking about what she must have gone through. She went through such unimaginable hardship despite her royal lineage.”
 
In Act Four, the play depicts the innermost emotions of Deokhye with refined stage effects that are at times dynamic and other times plaintive.
 
Kim Jong-hak, the art director of Gyeonggi Provincial Dance Company explained that the stage performance aimed to paint the scathing reality of Koreans who lived under the suppression of foreign forces when the country lost its sovereignty.
 
[Sound bite: Kim Jong-hak – Art Director, Gyeonggi Provincial Dance Company (Korean)]
“I wanted to give the audience a lesson and a reminder of our sad history. By the time they finished watching, I wanted them to sympathize with and not forget the agonies that left an indelible mark on history.”
 
Critics said the painful past should not be shunned but rather recognized, adding that this play is designed to help people come to grips with a dark chapter in history.
Park Jong-hong, KBS World Radio News.