[On Stage] School on Stage 'Ssaksseuri Cheongchun'

[Asia Economy Reporter Byunghee Park] Performances set in schools are pouring out. The musical Bear the Musical and the plays Another Country and Dear Teacher Elena all feature protagonists who are teenagers in high school. However, the personalities and appearances of these teenagers depicted in the plays are vastly different.

Each of the three works offers entertainment with distinct and clear colors. In Bear the Musical, you can feel the unpredictable energy of teenagers. Another Country captivates with the weight of the students' worries, while Dear Teacher Elena is an attractive work with tension derived from the appearance of a villain hidden in the background.

Musical 'Bear the Musical' Performance Photos [Photo by KG Company]

◆ Bear the Musical = Among the three works, Bear the Musical features the most immature students. Apart from the incidents they cause, it portrays the most realistic high school students in terms of personality.

The spatial setting, the 'St. Cecilia' boarding school, is a conservative Catholic high school. A large cross is installed high in the center of the stage, symbolizing this. However, the cross is so high that it is out of the students' sight. Thanks to this, the students freely commit acts of rebellion. The rebellion committed by the students in front of the cross, which could be a symbol of oppression, provides a peculiar catharsis.

However, there are some scenes that may be considered irreverent from a conservative perspective. The male protagonist Jason is a perfect model student in every aspect?personality, appearance, and academics. But he is in love with another male protagonist, Peter. The party scene on the birthday of the female lead Ivy is quite provocative. The party venue is decorated by stringing together women's underwear, and most notably, a cute male genitalia-shaped ornament appears in the center of the stage, catching the eye.

The play spirals as Ivy becomes pregnant from a one-night fling with Jason, and it ends with Jason, the cause of all the incidents, being punished. Jason also confesses his anguish in front of a priest midway through the play. For audience members who felt uncomfortable with some scenes, the scene where Jason confesses and is punished may somewhat relieve their discomfort. In that sense, Bear the Musical is a very cunning play. However, the play somewhat irresponsibly ends by leaving Ivy and Peter, who were hurt because of Jason, behind. It feels like a teenage accident where the culprit runs away without cleaning up the mess.

Theater performance scene of 'Another Country'
Photo by Page One

◆ Another Country = Another Country features students who are admirable yet somewhat creepy. The spatial setting is the dormitory 'Gascoigne' of a prestigious British public school in the 1930s. The weight of the worries expressed by the students is quite different. The play begins with the confession of 'Tommy Judd,' who defected from his homeland Britain to the Soviet Union. Judd argues that 1930s Britain was so chaotic that he had no choice but to abandon his country.

The conversations among the students include somewhat heavy terms for high school students, such as honor, betrayal, authority, democracy, and bourgeoisie. To maintain the prestigious tradition, discipline is emphasized, and the senior-junior culture is no different from the military. The student council 'Twenty-Two' and the prefects 'Prefects' control the students under the pretext of preserving tradition. While Twenty-Two tries to reflect the students' opinions as much as possible, the Prefects emphasize only discipline. This reflects a social structure commonly seen even today.

Judd, who aspires to Marxism, continuously points out the irrationality of oppressive discipline. The debates triggered by Judd's challenges contain concerns about what values we should pursue today. Therefore, the students in the play are admirable. However, within the political school structure, the students display political behavior. Since only children from wealthy families gather, they try to build connections from a young age and form alliances and splits based on political practicality.

Theater performance scene of 'Dear Teacher Elena'
Photo by IamCulture

◆ Dear Teacher Elena = The most dreadful students appear among the three plays. It is the only one whose spatial setting is not within the school. The events take place at the home of teacher Elena Sergeyevna. The spatial setting itself symbolizes that the students have already escaped the school's control and are infringing on existing authority.

The play begins brightly. While Teacher Elena spends her birthday alone and lonely, four students come to her with a birthday cake. A joyful and lively atmosphere continues. However, the moment the teacher goes into the kitchen to prepare food for her students, the students reveal their true colors. The title 'teacher' changes to 'that woman,' and the students contemplate how to manipulate her according to their intentions. Their goal is to obtain the key to the school safe containing the exam answer sheets. This is to alter exam scores and get into good universities. The gift the students give the teacher is also a bribe to achieve their goal and soon reveals itself as a trap to bind Teacher Elena.

Among the four students, 'Valyozha' symbolizes evil. Unlike the others, he has no real reason to alter exam scores. He treats obtaining the key from the teacher as a kind of game. Yet, he does not hesitate to take any action to achieve his goal. He is a character like the Joker from the movie Batman. Valyozha hides in the background and raises the tension of the play by revealing his true nature when the other students hesitate. Eventually, Teacher Elena feels deep despair at treating her students as less than human and teaching such pupils.

Bear the Musical runs until August 23 at Doosan Art Center Yeon-gang Hall, Another Country also runs until August 23 at Seokyeong University Performing Arts Center Scon 1 Hall in Daehangno, and Dear Teacher Elena runs until September 6 at Hongik University Daehangno Art Center Small Theater.