Jung Eun-chae plays Prince Pansori in “Jeongryeon: The Birth of a Star”

When performer Moon Ok-kyung left the theater after her performance, she was surrounded by adoring fans, mostly young girls, who asked for her autograph and presented her with flowers. Actress Jung Eun-chae plays Ok Kyung, a star of the Chinese theater troupe, who excited the audience with her musical-like prince image. The troupe performs a traditional Korean opera called “pansori” in a folk style, derived from two Korean words “pan,” which refers to a place where people gather, and “sori,” or a song.

Jung plays this role in historical Korean drama Dinglian: A star is born. Produced by Studio Dragon, the play is set in the 1950s, shortly after the Korean War, when several all-female Chinese theater troupes performed and competed for enthusiastic audiences. In an era when women had fewer career options, Melanjiguek performers wholeheartedly embraced their destiny, studying for years in order to master the craft and one day perhaps live like true princes. Before Jung Yuet-ah took on the role of Ok-kyung, the star of Meilan, she wasn’t familiar with pansori, an art form now considered an intangible cultural asset of South Korea.

“I’ve had the chance to hear pansori a few times through performances, but I didn’t know much about it,” she said. “It’s an art form that feels a little inaccessible and inaccessible in everyday life.”

However, the more she learned about pansori, the more she appreciated it.

“While preparing Dinglian: The birth of a star, I started studying sori (the sounds and sounds of pansori) and exploring the world of pansori,” Jung said. “I discovered that the way traditional Korean drama is expressed is more modern and free than I had imagined, and I began to appreciate the beautiful depth of this genre. Listening to Master Pansori sing, I realized that Pansori is more than just an ancient culture An art form that embodies our history and is filled with people’s lives and stories.

Jung studied pansori for a full year, but she knew it wasn’t enough.

“I spent a year immersed in it, from the pre-production period to the end,” Jung said. “When you first hear sori, you will notice that it is completely different from casual speech or singing. One year is too short a time to master pansori, as its depth can only be gained through years of practice Still, learning it was a truly new and remarkable experience.

As an artist, Ok Kyung enjoys male characters, which allow her to express herself in new ways.

“Wen Yujing is a person who is born with artistic talent,” Zheng said. “However, she easily gets bored with mundane repetition and longs for new excitement and experiences. I think that’s why she played a male role in the Belvedere Chinese drama, which gave her a sense of novelty and freedom.

Playing Ok-kyung was a much different experience than her character in Season 2 pinball machine aired earlier this year. The actress has previously appeared in TV series Dear Anna, Luca: Beginning and King: Eternal Monarch, Played the role of Soonja’s timid sister-in-law Qingxi in both the first and second seasons. pinball machine. Kyung-hee is shy and easy to understand, while Ok-kyung is bold and complex.

“I don’t think there’s a character that we can approach easily,” Jung said. “I always try to understand a character by imagining their untold stories and emotions – parts that are not explicitly shown on screen or written into the script. When playing Kyung Hee pinball machine, I tried to carefully understand the tragic character shaped by the circumstances of the time. For Yu Jing, my goal was to portray a man who, despite being surrounded by admiration, remains lonely.

exist Dinglian: The birth of a star Performers enact several plays within a play that are often no less dramatic than the conflicts and trials the performers face in real life. For Jung, these stunning performances remain among her fondest memories of filming the show.

“Every scene of the Chinese opera performance on stage will come to mind,” she said. “There I poured everything I had into sori, dance and performance. Especially the last performance, Fool and princess, This is Yujing’s last one and mine. It will become a beautiful and warm memory for a long time.

Dinglian: The birth of a star Adapted from the Naver webtoon created by Seo Ireh and Kim Yoon-hye. Studio Dragon TV series starring Kim Tae-ri, Shin Ye-eun, Ra Mi-ran, Kim Yoon-hye and Oh Da-wei is available to watch on Disney+ internationally and Hulu in the US