The Fringe version of Behind the Mirror, at 1 hour, is half an hour shorter than the full version that has successfully been performed in Korea for many years. In the version presented at the Fringe, the tale of Princess Pyonggang and General Ondal is told very briefly before a parallel story is told in much greater detail: the story of Pyonggang’s thieving maid who runs off into the forest where she can enjoy all her stolen goods and behave as a princess herself. In the forest she meets and befriends a Caliban-like creature played by the same actor who plays Ondal. This new story is a kind of mirror image of the more familiar Pyonggang – Ondal story. The twenty-minute excerpt presented at the London showcase was a good warm-up for the main event. To quote my comment at the time,
This is supremely engaging entertainment that will have you transported to another world with your jaw dropped in amazement that the singers can sustain multi-part harmony while contorting their bodies to resemble trees in a forest.
