Theatre-maker Jaha Koo wins International Ibsen Award — SkimNews
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- Jaha Koo won the International Ibsen Award in Oslo, receiving 2.5m kroner (£200,000); past recipients include Lola Arias, Taylor Mac and Forced Entertainment.
- Haribo Kimchi, Koo's current touring show, fuses kimchi and Haribo gummies as a metaphor for cultural identity — set on a pojangmacha snack cart with a Haribo-red glow — and serves an onstage banquet (somaek cocktail, kimchi pancakes, cold seaweed soup) to two audience members while a robotic eel slithers about and sings.
- The show had its UK premiere at this summer's Edinburgh International Festival, where audiences invaded the stage for the end-of-show buffet.
- Cuckoo, Koo's earlier production, uses hacked Cuckoo-brand rice cookers as griping, singing co-performers to examine Korea's late-1990s IMF bailout — a $58bn rescue package Koo describes as 'economic imperialism' — with an electro-pop number on the role of US treasury secretary Robert Rubin and an account of a friend's suicide.
- Koo's next project turns to K-pop, a genre he frames as both a 'force for change' — fans wielded it politically against former President Yoon's 2024 martial law attempt — and an industry with a 'really dark side'; it will be his first show he does not perform in.
- His other work includes Lolling and Rolling, about tongue surgery South Koreans pursue to pronounce the English 'R,' and The History of Korean Western Theatre, on 'theatrical imperialism.'
- Koo's life motto is 'jelliness' — the gummy-bear quality of deforming and recovering shape, which he describes as the same resilience he needs living outside Korea, where Europeans see him as Korean but Koreans don't always.
Why it matters: The £200,000 award gives Koo the resources to launch an upcoming K-pop project that examines the genre as both a political force — fans helped resist Yoon's 2024 martial law attempt — and an industry with a 'really dark side.' Notably, it will be his first show where he doesn't perform, marking a shift from solo artist to ensemble director.
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