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| ▲ This photo, provided by LG Art Center, Sem Company, and ARTEC, shows director Yang Jung-ung. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This photo, provided by LG Art Center, Sem Company, and ARTEC, shows Park Hae-soo. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This photo, provided by LG Art Center, Sem Company, and ARTEC, shows Park Eun-seok and Won Jina. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
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| ▲ This photo, provided by LG Art Center, Sem Company, and ARTEC, shows director Yang Jung-ung. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
SEOUL, April. 14 (Yonhap) -- "This performance of ‘Faust’ is part one. We are planning to do part 2 and part 3. In order to complete the series, I should suggest Park Hae-soo to play the role of Mephisto again, right?”
Theater director Yang Jung-ung (56) has been attracting attention for his modern and sensuous reinterpretation of Western classics such as "Coriolanus," "Peer Gynt," "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and "Hamlet."
Park Hae-soo, who stars as the devil "Mephisto," is the reason why "Faust," which director Yang Jung-ung co-dramatized and directed, is gaining popularity by ranking first in theater reservations on various ticket reservation sites.
He has proved to be an actor who works on the world stage with impressive performances in "Squid Game" and "Narch-saints," and is performing the "evil" of this era, returning to his home, theater stage after five years.
Director Yang Jung-ung, who we met at LG Art Center Seoul on Thursday, said, "Park Hae-soo was already a big star in the theater industry even before entering the media," adding, "I wanted to work with him for a long time, but now I'm with him."
"From the time I saw him on stage before, Park Hae-soo had unrivaled energy and aura. The processing of the lines is accurate, the expression is diverse, and it's skillful. I prepared this ‘Faust’ with Park Hae Soo in mind from the beginning."
Park Hae-soo’s “Mephisto” captivates the stage and audience at once with colorful and confident gestures, relaxed manner, and witty eloquence. His charisma and energy on the stage are absolute to the extent that it is no exaggeration to say that it is a play for Park Hae-soo.
"Faust," directed by Yang Jung-ung, has now taken its first step.
If the original version written by Germany's greatest writer Goethe is made into a play, it will take much more than 20 hours, but this time it is a part of the original version that has been compressed in half. Director Yang said, "I think we need to make part two and part three to complete the whole Faust," and added, "I want Park Hae-soo to be the ‘Mephisto’ again."
In "Faust," not only Park Hae-soo but also the supporting actors who support him with their outstanding acting skills stand out. Won Jina, who plays Gretchen, who young Dr. Faust fell in love with, is one of them. Having mainly appeared in TV dramas and movies, including director Yeon Sang-ho's Netflix series "Hellbound," she impressed with her passionate acting on the stage of her first play.
"A play is not easy without cheerful energy, but Won Jina is really full of energy." She worries extra hard about how to act in a theatrical way. If you give her advice, she’ll manage to do make it work. One day, while practicing, I told her, "You're already a theater actor.""
It is common in London West End, the U.K., Hollywood, and Broadway, where actors who have gained basic skills on stage enter TV, OTT, and movies, raise awareness, receive public love, and return to the stage. It is same for Park Hae-soo and Korea have quite a lot of actors like this these days.
"They say they heal on stage. It's not just one shot, but the performance continues two, three months. If you read the script, you're going to improve your acting skills for months. I think that time definitely gives the actors time to heal and concentrate. It's encouraging."
Yang Jung-ung has produced a variety of performing arts, ranging from musicals, operas, and media art to large events such as the opening ceremony of the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. For him, the theater stage is a fun and painful place.
"I like music, so when I direct a musical or an opera, my ears are happy. But my main job, theater, is both fun and painful. I don't like boring things, so I work as if I'm playing, and when I get home, I wrap my head around thinking about it again."
"Faust" is a masterpiece that solves philosophical problems that Goethe wrestled with throughout his life, such as good and evil, God and man, love and desire, and salvation, with theatrical imagination. However, the nearly three hours of performance are not all filled with serious anguish.
"Faust," adapted by director Yang with actor Nam Yoon-ho (the son of actor Yoo In-chon), is faithful to the original source but has added a little fun everywhere. Park Hae-soo's famous lines in "Narco-saints" were also included in the adaptation stage, which brought more life as the actors added ideas during rehearsals.
At the side of the directing, director saying, "I sincerely hope that the famous classic 'Faust,' which is not easily read after watching this play, will be read easily," came differently after watching it.
Why should we continue to read and watch classics in an era of short videos and in this era of dyslexia where we rarely read long texts.
"Jewel-like wisdom is all in the classic. If you look at the content that is currently popular, it is based on classic dramas. It may be a cliche, but classics contain truths that go beyond culture, language, and space, and wisdom that faces human nature. That's why you have to keep looking at classics like a mirror."
"Faust," co-produced by LG Art Center and Sem Company, will be on stage until the 29th at LG Signature Hall in LG Art Center Seoul, Gangseo-gu, Seoul.
(This article is translated from Korean to English by Yunhee Cho.)
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