[On Stage] "Ambiguous? That's the concept of 'Unchain'"

Director Shin Yu-cheong "A story of deceiving others and misunderstandings through endless lies... Focus on guilt, remorse, and conscience within the human mind"

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Byung-hee] A dark space where a fireplace is burning. Two men are present. The man bound to a chair is 'Singer.' Singer's right hand is handcuffed. The man looking at Singer with a cold smile is 'Mark.' Mark is searching for his missing daughter.

The two-person play 'Unchain' begins in this strange atmosphere. It is a work directed by Shin Yoo-chung (39), who received acclaim for every performance last year, including 'There is a Lot of Poop in Nokcheon,' 'Scorched Love,' and 'Wife.' He is currently the most notable director in the Korean theater scene. He won the Dong-A Theater Award for directing in January. 'Unchain' premiered in early December 2017, was revived in April 2019, and will enter its third run on the 7th.

The relationship between Mark and Singer frequently reverses in the play. In the latter part, Mark is the one who ends up handcuffed and bound. Their dialogue is conveyed to the audience in clear language, but it is not easy to grasp the intentions behind their words.

Director Shin said that ambiguity is the concept of 'Unchain.' Because of this ambiguity, previous performances received some criticism for being difficult to understand. "Some audience members cannot follow the ambiguity, while others find it attractive and want to delve deeper. Ambiguity is an indispensable concept in this work. We are preparing the third performance so that this ambiguity can appear more appealing to a wider audience."

Directed by Shin Yu-cheong

The reason the intentions behind Mark and Singer's dialogue are not immediately clear is because Mark's memory is confused. Singer suffers as he recalls facts he wants to hide under Mark's pressure. Through their psychological changes, the shocking truth of the incident is revealed.

"The play is a story about constantly deceiving others with lies and misunderstanding each other. When humans lie to themselves and deceive themselves, they eventually become surprised by their own nature of lying without realizing it. Within lies, the unconscious that even the person is unaware of is revealed, they discover their true nature, and through that, they seek the truth."

The idea to create 'Unchain' came from a few lines suggested by General Producer (PD) Noh Jae-hwan. Noh PD proposed a brief synopsis in the form of a detective story based on his own experience of having fragmented memories after a severe mental shock in the past. While Noh PD's suggestion was close to a detective story uncovering the truth of a crime, Director Shin was more interested in the human consciousness and nature within the process of revealing the crime's truth?things like guilt, remorse, and conscience. Thus, the play evolved from a simple detective story into a sophisticated psychological drama.

Director Shin made so many changes during the revival that he said it was a completely different performance from the premiere. This time, the performance maintains the framework of the revival while deepening the ambiguity to enhance completeness. Director Shin explained, "If the premiere focused on actions, the revival dealt with how conscience moves rather than actions." While focusing on the inner self, the spatial background was also changed to an unreal space.

"In the premiere, the time and space background was set in reality, but I felt it did not capture the desired characters and concept. The writer agreed. During the revival, we rewrote the script with a virtual space inside the characters' inner selves as the background instead of reality. It is decorated as a space that could be someone's mental world, an afterlife space judging sins, or a space that might cause such illusions. Time reverses, unwanted sins keep coming to mind, and conversely, memories that must not be forgotten are forgotten in this space."

Performance scene of the play 'Unchain' in 2019 [Photo by Contents Planning]

Director Shin's focus on the human inner self with the concept of ambiguity seems to stem from his awareness of human imperfection. He said, "I think the inner self is always being overturned by two complex elements."

His working method also seems based on acknowledging his own (human) imperfection. "Some colleagues misunderstand that the director is the ultimate decision-maker at the top. I think it is better to look together and choose together. This is a clever way to shift my responsibility... (laughs). Since everyone comes from different backgrounds and learned theater differently, I try to look, think, and decide together. I think actors who find this interesting are good colleagues. Still, there are things the director must take responsibility for and decide, and things the actors must be responsible for."

He also said that in the process of making a performance, he places the text as the highest value. He emphasized especially the parts agreed upon with the writer.

"I think of it as faithfully putting the script on stage. It is work faithful to the script. No matter who directs, if based on this text, I think it should be made like this. I worry whether my style might damage the text, so I try to hide myself as much as possible."

Therefore, he dislikes his own color showing in the work. Although he says he tries to hide himself, through a recent series of works and awards, he has become a director who stands out, perhaps unintentionally.

"Aside from awards, I enjoy the time immersed in my thoughts rather than worrying about things like actors' movements while continuously working on plays."