Mediating the National-Regional-Global Triad: Nanta and Nonverbal Performance

Abstract

By examining Nanta, the first South Korean nonverbal performance, this chapter shows how the strategic fusion of pan-Asian traditional cultural elements and the reactions it elicits from Asian audiences reflect the producer’s vision of a globalized, transnational spectacle. Through an analysis of the play’s representational style and performance devices, the chapter argues that, whereas the theme of the transnational perpetuated in The Last Empress is contradictorily based on an exclusivist, nationalistically isolationist rationale, Nanta emphasizes inviting qualities that effectively accommodate audiences beyond the national borders. The chapter also questions whether the pan-Asian communications in the performance arose from South Korea’s national desire to function as an Asian cultural center under the gaze of Broadway (itself one of the symbols of global cultural hegemony).