SYNOPSIS

King Sejo wakes up suffering from a terrible itch all over his body. As the eunuchs dress him, he orders them to bring Crown Prince Uigyeong. But the crown prince has already died. Twelve years after taking the throne, Sejo is still tormented by pain and regret. He asks himself whether his decision was right.

The Daytime Goblins of Jangneung appear and speak to the audience. For hundreds of years, they have guarded Danjong's tomb at Jangneung. They talk about the contradictions of the human world, where loyal subjects become traitors and traitors are called loyal subjects. Then they begin to tell the tragic story of Danjong.

Danjong has lost his throne and been demoted to Prince Nosan. Before leaving for exile in Yeongwol, he says his last goodbye to Queen Jeongsun at Wangsimpyeong Bridge. The queen says the bridge should be called Yeongdogyo, the bridge crossed forever. She sends her husband away in tears, hoping they will meet again someday. Danjong remembers the moment he gave up the throne.

The young Danjong tells his uncle Sejo that he will hand over the throne and step down as retired king. Sejo claims that Danjong's troubles began because of the officials who followed Danjong and tried to remove Sejo. Danjong says he has no power and announces that he will step down.

On the way to Yeongwol, Danjong rests for a while before boarding a boat. Missing Queen Jeongsun, he arrives at his place of exile, where Eom Heung-do welcomes him. Eom still calls him "Your Majesty" and takes good care of him. Danjong tells him that everyone who called him "Your Majesty" is dead, and asks to be called Prince Nosan. But Eom does not change his mind.

Meanwhile, loyal officials, including Seong Sam-mun and Bak Paeng-nyeon, refuse to accept Sejo as king. They call him "my lord" instead of "Your Majesty" and demand that the throne be returned to Danjong. A fierce argument breaks out with the officials who support Sejo. Sejo says their actions will only bring greater misfortune to Danjong. In the end, Sejo orders that poison be sent to Danjong.

One day, during the monsoon rains in Yeongwol, Eom visits Danjong with wine and meat. Danjong tells him not to pity him. Eom jokes that he brought the food to bet on a game of baduk. If he wins, he asks Danjong to put bait on his fishing hook or pour water over his back. For a short time, the two share simple, everyday pleasures beyond their difference in status.

Then a royal officer arrives with the poison. He also calls Danjong "Your Majesty," and Danjong warns him that such words will put him in danger. Seeing the poison, Danjong calmly accepts that his time has come. Thinking of Queen Jeongsun, he drinks the poison and collapses.

Sejo orders that anyone who collects Danjong's body will have three generations of his family wiped out. But Eom risks his life and recovers the body.

Left alone, Queen Jeongsun refuses everything Sejo sends her. She makes a living by dyeing cloth purple. While she lives longing for Danjong, a maid brings her the news of his death. The queen hopes to meet him again in the next life. She lives another 64 years after his death, and until the end of her life, she does not forget Danjong and honors his memory.

Throughout the story, the Daytime Goblins of Jangneung explain the historical background and lead the percussion troupe. They reflect the contradictions of the human world and the emptiness of power.


Historical Background

Danjong (1441–1457) became the sixth king of Joseon at the age of eleven, after the early death of his father, King Munjong. In 1453, his uncle, Grand Prince Suyang, seized power in a coup, and in 1455 Danjong abdicated in his favor. Suyang became King Sejo. A year later, a group of officials, later honored as the Six Martyred Ministers, plotted to restore Danjong and were executed. Danjong was demoted to Prince Nosan and exiled to Yeongwol, where he was put to death in 1457 at the age of sixteen. A local official, Eom Heung-do, risked his life to bury the body.

Danjong and his queen, Queen Jeongsun, were officially restored in 1698. His tomb, Jangneung, is now part of the UNESCO World Heritage Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty, and a local legend tells of goblins (dokkaebi) guarding it. For British readers, the story of an uncle usurping a boy king may recall Richard III and the Princes in the Tower.

Eom Heung-do is also a central character in the musical, which shows his bond with the exiled young king in Yeongwol. The musical began in 2023 as an outdoor performance at Jangneung, years before the 2026 film The King's Warden (왕과 사는 남자), which also features Eom. The film drew more than 10 million viewers in Korea, was released across North America, and sparked a wave of interest in Danjong.

Sources:
https://sbsstar.net/article/N1008475717/the-kings-warden-breaks-out-overseas-lights-up-50-north-american-cities
https://www.khan.co.kr/article/202403201553001
https://www.yeongwol-news.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=43902


REVIEW

This musical tells the history of King Danjong. It shows Danjong's abdication, his exile, the Six Martyred Ministers, Eom Heung-do burying the king's body, and Queen Jeongsun's life after his death, one event after another. The lyrics were shown on the screen at the back of the stage. The actors sang clearly, so I think the screen was there to help the audience follow the many historical details. It did help me understand the story, but I felt like I was taking a history lesson back in high school.

Still, it was a better history lesson than the ones I had at school. I had forgotten much of this history, so the show worked as a good review for me. Many times I thought, "Ah, that's right!" One example is the bridge where Danjong and Queen Jeongsun said their last goodbye. In the musical, the queen sings the bridge's original name and says she will call it Yeongdogyo, the bridge crossed forever. A textbook would mention this in one line. A song is easier to remember. After the show, I had several questions to look up. Why did King Sejong choose the sickly Munjong as crown prince? Did Sejo really feel guilty? Was Queen Jeongsun restored later? What did she use to dye the cloth purple?

I liked the structure. The story simply lists the facts and does not try to make the audience cry. Three Daytime Goblins break the rhythm with comic scenes. They say they smell humans and look around the audience for bad people. Then they decide that people who come to see a show cannot be bad. A percussion troupe walked down into the aisles, and the goblins asked the audience to shout along. These scenes felt like traditional open-air theatre. But each time, the goblins also led the audience back to Danjong's story.

The goblins come from a Yeongwol legend about goblins guarding Danjong's tomb, Jangneung. They seemed to show that even though Danjong died in despair, Yeongwol has protected him for hundreds of years. This musical is now Yeongwol's signature show. Danjong's tomb has become part of the region's heritage.

The first scene shows Sejo suffering from a terrible itch. Later, he cries out for his son, thinking the dead crown prince is still alive. The best number was the duet between Sejo and Danjong. Sejo says he had no choice, and Danjong answers that it is only an excuse. In this scene, the two sides clashed in the music itself.

Most of the cast sang in a musical theatre style. The second goblin sang in a Korean traditional style. The ensemble had more variety in age and body type than most Seoul productions. They sang while playing Korean traditional instruments. They looked happy, and I appreciated the diversity.

The show reminded me of Boheoja: The One Who Paces the Void, a changgeuk about Prince Anpyeong and the painter An Gyeon. Both works show Sejo's inner struggle. In Boheoja, he cannot kill his brother and lets him live in the void, which felt more cruel than kind to me. Here, he suffers from an itch and sees his dead son. Both works made me think about how many people died in early Joseon. Almost every change of king brought bloodshed. I also thought about Queen Jeongsun. After her husband was killed, she probably had no other choice but to endure. She refused the king's support and dyed cloth purple to make a living.

I went to this one-day performance because the show had been performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2025. The show started on an outdoor stage at Jangneung, and it was performed there a month before I saw it. I think it would feel different to watch it at the tomb itself.