At the bottom of his own black pit, an unlikely voice called out to him and lifted him up. "Cuckoo has finished cooking rice, please stir," the voice said.
Thursday, January 16, 2020
Theater Made with Talking Appliances
At the bottom of his own black pit, an unlikely voice called out to him and lifted him up. "Cuckoo has finished cooking rice, please stir," the voice said.
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This has got to be one of the strangest pieces of theatre I have ever heard of. A play of three rice cookers which talk. I am all about being imaginative and creative, and I love seeing a clever way of using an item that it was never meant to work before, but a play of rice cookers? Definitely something I never would have dreamt up. I had no idea what to expect after reading the title of the article, but after just reading the first paragraph, I realized there was much more to this story than just talking rice cookers. The suicide rate that the composer was seeing in people whom he was friends with is terrible – at least one per year. I never have personally experienced such a traumatic event, only heard stories of such, but this poor man experienced at least one death every year for more than ten years. This being said, it is really refreshing to know that he took something as simple and mundane as a talking rice cooker and used it to bring himself out of his hole and reignite his creativity. Many people struggle to cope with such loss and remain affected forever, and while he still may feel grief, he turned his grief into creativity by creating theatre with talking rice cookers. Although his story started out very sad and depressing, it has seen quite a happy turn, and hopefully It remains as such.
This man has a fascinating creative process and I’d be interested to see what type of work he has done in the past. I’m impressed that he could find a spark of inspiration from something so mundane as an everyday rice cooker, even if it did talk to him. I’m constantly amazed at the human ability to anthropomorphize all sorts of things like machines and give them the ability to make us feel compassion for them. I saw a puppet show back home that had a live action R2D2-esque robot that was controlled by a puppeteer and I was amazed at how many emotions it could show with only three mechanical parts. This is an excellent example of experimental theater though, and hopefully it means as much to the audiences as it does to writer. The play is also interesting from the perspective of being American and not having the rice cookers as a part of everyday culture in the same way, so I’m curious how it will be received by American audiences.
As a person who loves his Amazon Alexa, I think this variation with rice cookers is pure genius. The entire concept of home automation and electronic personal assistants is such a twenty-first-century concept so why not include them in theatrical performances. While the idea of watching three rice cookers “perform” maybe a little bit of a stretch for an audience, I believe the creator was onto something. As we have talked about in class, “immersive” theatre is a popular trend and the idea of a show being shaped by the response an electronic personal assistant could be rather entertaining. For example, Apple’s Siri is famous for giving some peculiar answers to questions as well as the different easter eggs that these personal assistants are programed with in order to entertain people. The way this rice cooker theatrical piece made such a bold statement about capitalism and consumerism in the 21st century by using the appliances that the piece was criticizing is an incredibly clever idea to me.
I have to say that I almost laughed when I read the first line because it was just so unexpected. Koo's thought process is truly unique and I would never have imagined that such a strange occurrence would feel so relatable. The idea that we have become so isolated and the feelings of loneliness have become so strong that comfort could be sought with a rice cooker is so absurd but also understandable in a surprising way. The issues of suicide, loneliness, society, and expectations are nothing new but Koo's approach is so singular that it is intriguing to think about the way it will be represented. Also being American I'm curious about what ways the Korean's experience will be the same and differ from our own. It says a lot about the society he's commenting on that there is no place for his kind of theatre in his home country. Being displayed in Europe I'm curious how they will receive Cuckoo with their own differing cultural and societal experiences.
As someone who loves her rice cooker, I went into this article slightly amused and curious about what kind of performance would come of it. I was not expecting to get into something as deep and meaningful as that. I’m glad that Jaha Koo was able to find some comfort in the little appliances around him and was able to turn it into a kind of performance art. I hope that he’s able to keep up the work and that things in his life stay more positive. It’s interesting that he used rice cookers of all things as a way to make a commentary about mental health and capitalism. I know that the way society and culture is in Korea is much different than here in the United States, so the conversation about mental illness on his end could be an interesting and different way to look at it.
This is probably the most strange theater production that I've ever read or heard about, yet I would be extremely eager and excited if given the opportunity to watch it. I don't think anyone else could have thought of a play in which rice cookers are the main actors. As a South Korean, I am no stranger to the alarmingly high suicide rate that South Korea has. Asian Americans also hold one of the highest suicide rates in America and this is especially prevalent among college student asian-americans. There is a toxic culture that surrounds some East Asian families regarding expectation and honor. Mental health is often not talked about in East Asian countries, and sometimes, performance and academics are put above one's personal desires. The discussion and acceptance/making normal of Mental Health need to be higher on the priority list. for this man she turned it loneliness and sorrow into unique avant-garde never seen before form of Art, which is highly admirable. Not everybody can so gracefully and artistically recover from such a dark mental state, but from it came something new, exciting, and a purpose.
As I was clicking on this article, I assumed it would be some lighthearted piece of experimental fun theatre, but as soon as I started reading, I quickly understood that that’s not necessarily the case. In fact, knowing the origin of Jaha Koo’s inspiration, this unusual form of theatre is actually very moving. Sometimes the most special things are derived from abstract places, and this appliance theatre is exactly that. Conversations about mental health should be happening all over the world, and it’s really incredible that Koo is making conversation about it in South Korea, especially using such a common yet meaningful symbol as a rice cooker to tackle them (the author of the article mentioned that virtually every household in Korea has a rice cooker). I think it’s great too that the message isn’t limited to a Korean audience, that the commentary is able to target economic issues in other countries with different cultures as well.
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