Mask plays, one principal form of traditional theatre in Korea, were developed during the late Yi dynasty (around the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries) from a pure folk origin. Since the Confucian ruling class of the Yi dynasty ignored or tried to suppress all forms of theatrical entertainment, these plays have followed the tastes of popular audiences and thus reflect commoners’ resentment towards the privileged classes of those days. They were performed in the open air and usually lasted throughout the night. Among them the most representative forms still extant are the Yangju Pyol Sandae mask play and the Pongsan mask dance.

Mask plays consist of ten scenes or so, very loosely linked. All the characters—every Korean mask play has more than twenty—wear masks, which differ according to role: there are twenty-two masks in the Yangju Pyol Sandae and twenty-six in the Pongsan.