Last year, the Festival of Korean Dance for the first time played to audiences in Salford, Coventry and Brighton. The year the festival extends its reach into Scotland, with its first performance in Glasgow. Salford, Newcastle and Bournemouth will also get to experience one of the productions. The full press release follows, with links at … [Read More]
LKL articles by Philip Gowman
Review: Hera Hyesang Park’s stunning London debut
When faced with the choice of attending a recital by an opera singer I usually politely decline, whatever the reputation of the singer. The prospect of what is usually a selection of operatic arias performed outside of their dramatic context holds little appeal for me, particularly if the recital is accompanied by a piano reduction … [Read More]
March events
Here are the main events for March. Despite the respectable length of the list, I can’t help feeling that since January, which felt crazily busy, we’ve been in a slight holding pattern: pre-pandemic we’d got used to a relatively frequent schedule of events at SOAS and the KCC, but things haven’t yet got back into … [Read More]
Youngsun Yoon’s Kiss: a minimalist study in the difficulty of communicating
Over the years, Londoners have had a few, but not many, opportunities to see the work of a Korean playwright on stage. The count increases if you include musicals or performances in provincial theatres or at the Edinburgh fringe, where each year you can normally find at least one 50-minute Korean stage production, but if … [Read More]
February events 2024
Here’s what we know of so far for this month, though experience tells us that more events will spring up without much prior notice… Live performance Kim’s Convenience continues until 10 Feb. They’ve squeezed in an additional performance on 9 Feb due to popular demand, but it’s now returns only. LKL review here Dancer / … [Read More]
Kim’s Convenience: a great family night out
On a cold January night, if you’re looking for some warm and cozy entertainment, Kim’s Convenience fits the bill admirably. The Park Theatre’s intimate stage has a homely feel. The scene, needless to say, is a convenience store, provisioned, as it happens, courtesy of New Malden’s Korea Foods. Audience members in the front row of … [Read More]
A review of the Korean cultural year 2023
2023: a year when an environmental artist from Gwangju shared a hug with the King; four K-pop princesses went to Buckingham Palace and received honorary MBEs; and the tolling bell of Jirisan’s Daewonsa temple was broadcast on BBC Radio 4. The year marked the 140th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the UK … [Read More]
A look back at LEAFF and LKFF 2023
We didn’t get around to writing any detailed reviews of the films that screened at the two big festivals in the autumn of 2023, so it’s time to try to pull some thoughts together before the memories fade entirely, jostled sideways by new ones. There were some sparkly new films which were fun to watch … [Read More]
January events 2024
Happy New Year. And it’s a busier start to the year than usual with no fewer than six live K-pop / hip-hop events. But before I get to the list, here’s a rehearsal for the New Year’s Eve drone show at Gwangalli Beach, Busan. Pretty impressive, though apparently there was a glitch that postponed the … [Read More]
Report on 9th Enlarged Plenum of 8th WPK Central Committee
Sourced from KCNA.KP. The overseas North Koreans provided additional analysis on Twitter. Pyongyang, December 31 (KCNA): The Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), the great guide of our country and people, has defended the eternal vitality of socialism, the ideal and future of mankind, and vigorously led its steady development, while confirming the validity of the … [Read More]
A look back at the books we encountered in 2023
When it comes to fiction, 2023 was a year that defied my expectations. Those novels that I hoped or expected to enjoy turned out to be disappointments; those that I thought might be heavy going turned out to be enjoyable. It was a reminder to try better to abide by the maxim of approaching a … [Read More]
Season’s Greetings to all our readers
Best wishes for Christmas and the New Year to all of LKL’s readers, friends and contributors. Have a peaceful break. Thanks as usual are due to Jieun Kim aka The Drawing Hand for the festive design for the LKL Christmas Card. She and I are delighted at how many of you seem to be collecting … [Read More]
The Sight and Sound top 100: what’s buried in the detail?
Back in December 2022, Sight and Sound released its updated list of The Greatest Films of All Time. This list, which was first presented in 1952, is prepared every ten years. For the first time, in this most recent iteration a Korean film made it into the top 100. There are no prizes for guessing … [Read More]
12.12 The Day gets a well-deserved third week in London cinemas
In the past few years the UK has benefited from a number of theatrical releases of recent Korean box office movies. Sometimes, the UK release has occurred while the movie is still showing in cinemas back in Korea, indicating a certain amount of confidence on the part of the distributors to invest in a title … [Read More]
December events 2023
The film and music festivals are ended, the State Visit over, and commiserations are due to Busan for missing out on the 2030 World Expo. December, thankfully, is less hectic than the last couple of months, with not much happening (as far as we know) apart from the following: Exhibitions Han Collection has a lovely … [Read More]