[On Stage] Thirst for New Acting Drives Even Gatsby to Dance

Immersive Performance 'The Great Gatsby' Gatsby Role Park Jeongbok

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] "Why does Gatsby have to dance? Gatsby is the host of the party, so does dancing together suit the character of Gatsby?"

This is one of the questions actor Park Jeong-bok (38, photo), who plays Gatsby in the immersive (audience participation) performance "The Great Gatsby," asked Amy Burns Walker, the co-director, during rehearsals. "The Great Gatsby" is a unique type of play with no distinction between the audience seats and the stage, where actors even engage in improvised conversations with the audience during the performance.

Park Jeong-bok was drawn to this unique charm and participated in the audition, eventually landing the lead role. However, his ingrained habits became a problem. He said, "I wanted to abandon the acting methods I had used until now, but they kept surfacing," adding, "In 'The Great Gatsby,' I have to perform in ways I haven't used before."

The original work of "The Great Gatsby" is the novel of the same name published in 1925 by American novelist Francis Scott Fitzgerald (1896?1940). The novel vividly depicts the lives of Americans who became materially wealthy after winning World War I but were spiritually exhausted. The protagonist, Jay Gatsby, is a character who holds lavish parties every night at his mansion to meet his beloved Daisy.

Performance scene of 'The Great Gatsby'
Photo by Mast Entertainment

The stage of "The Great Gatsby" is the luxurious party venue hosted by Gatsby. When the audience enters through the theater doors guided by the actors, a party scene with jazz playing under dazzling lights unfolds. Gatsby and his friends appear one by one and teach the audience simple dance steps. Soon, actors and audience members mingle and perform a group dance.

Although Gatsby in the novel does not dance, Gatsby in the play dances with the audience to lift the atmosphere. This helps ease the tension of the awkward audience and informs them about what kind of performance "The Great Gatsby" is. "It is important to let the audience know that they have come to a party. It sets the mood and says, 'Open your hearts and enjoy yourselves.'

Park Jeong-bok prefers meticulous storytelling. "Considering the events before and after, if all the text is not perfectly organized with rational logic, I find it very difficult. So I create a tightly woven logic within the text of the play. I don't really like spontaneous improvisation." For this reason, last year he acted in plays such as "Red," "The Crucible," and "Report Directive," taking on roles that required expressing heavy narratives. In "Red," he played Ken, the assistant to American abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko, who ended his life by suicide. In "The Crucible," based on the 1952 play by American novelist Arthur Miller, famous for "Death of a Salesman," which warns of the dangers of McCarthyism, he portrayed Pastor John Hale, who tries to keep his conscience. In "Report Directive," a play based on the 1986 incident when reporter Kim Joo-eon of the Hankook Ilbo exposed military regime reporting directives during the Chun Doo-hwan administration, he played the protagonist Kim Joo-hyuk.

"The Great Gatsby" is different in tone from those plays. If the audience gives unexpected answers or actions during the play, the story could be shaken. The actor's spontaneous ad-libs are important.

Perhaps Park Jeong-bok's participation in the unfamiliar format of "The Great Gatsby" was driven by a desire for new plays and acting experiences.

"I usually focus on one work, but last year I intentionally took on many works even if they overlapped. By the end of the year, I felt exhausted. I thought I was showing similar types of performances continuously. Although the themes and characters changed with each play, the format was the same, so I felt tired. Also, while I was working hard and happily on stage, I questioned whether I was truly enjoying the stage. I thought theater was about carefully constructing every line to convey the message of the work, but on the other hand, I wondered if I was performing in a way that suffocated the audience. During rehearsals, I felt the pressure, but on stage, I should have enjoyed it more, which I failed to do."

Immersive performance 'The Great Gatsby' by Park Jung-bok
Photo by Mast Entertainment

When he was exhausted, he happened to watch an audition video for "The Great Gatsby," which gave him a new inspiration. "Since the format of the play was completely different, I became curious. To understand what immersive theater is, I even looked up academic papers, and I felt the passion burning like when I first learned acting."

Park Jeong-bok said that acting as Gatsby feels fresh. "I gain a lot from working on a piece with a different format. Especially, I learn to be more relaxed. Sometimes the audience sits around like in a traditional Korean courtyard play, and sometimes I perform one-on-one while making eye contact with the audience. The texture of the acting changes with every scene. I also experience a sense of accomplishment I have never felt in other plays."

Having focused mainly on stage acting, this also rekindled his interest in screen acting. In "The Great Gatsby," actors perform among the audience. The audience can see the actors up close. They can vividly see sweat running down the passionate actor’s neck and feel the roughened breathing caused by intense emotions. Therefore, actors need even more concentration.

Park Jeong-bok said, "The audience’s gaze really makes me feel like they are listening to my story. If I don’t perform sincerely from the heart, I can feel the audience’s concentration break. So there are many moments when delicate acting, like in screen acting, is necessary." He majored in acting at the Korea National University of Arts. "I thought my strengths showed more in stage acting. But if I add the delicate acting I do in 'The Great Gatsby,' I wonder if I can show something more. If I had to choose between theater and screen, of course, it would be theater, but now I want to think about it more."