The King of Acting Returns After 4 Years with the Play 'Richard III'... Hwang Jung-min's Comeback

A ray of light shines on a throne with a tall backrest in the deep darkness. Soon, a sinister voice with a cynical tone emerges from the darkness. “The winter of discontent is gone, and the summer shining brilliantly with the sun has come.” He is none other than the absolute villain Richard III (Hwang Jung-min). With a hunched back and crooked hands and feet, he grins slyly and addresses the audience.

“Look at me. Born of good blood but made rough. A twisted figure as if randomly stamped out. From this moment, I will become a great actor. Sometimes smiling, sometimes shedding tears of sympathy, cheerfully, strictly, lovingly, and also macho. If I cannot take that throne with a brilliant performance that deceives the world, then I guess I just have to become a little more, more evil.”

As he says, Richard III is a character who has never been loved by anyone and carries all kinds of trauma. “I am a twisted person. Just as no one loves me, I do not love myself.” Richard III, who claims to be a villain, spreads ugly rumors that make his older brother Edward and younger brother George hate each other, ultimately causing both their deaths. Not only that, he commits the tragedy of murdering his two nephews who are next in line for the throne. He also proposes to a woman (Anne) who lost her husband because of him, making her queen and using her as a visual aid to highlight himself. He is a thorough villain. Hwang Jung-min said, “It’s easy to commit evil deeds and leave the responsibility for regret to others,” adding, “It’s amazing that people hundreds of years ago felt the same way.”

This is Hwang Jung-min’s second time playing Richard III, following his performance in 2018. At the press call for the play “Richard III” held on the 13th at the CJ Towol Theater in the Seoul Arts Center, Hwang Jung-min said, “When I was a theater student, I grew up watching seniors perform classic plays. But at some point, the greatness of classicism disappeared, which was regrettable,” and added, “Since we are a group that loves theater, I thought we should do classic plays. I wanted to show this to students who are about to start this work.” He continued, “Classics have so many poetic expressions that it’s naturally difficult to digest. You have to study every consonant and vowel carefully to make the audience understand. It looks easy, but it’s very difficult,” and said, “There is no better work to study than this. Personally, that is the great charm of this piece.”

How did he memorize so many lines? The solid structure, so well-built that one might wonder if he actually has a disability, captivates the audience’s eyes and ears for 100 minutes. Hwang Jung-min’s acting overwhelms the audience, perhaps because of the evil in each person’s heart. Director Seo Jae-hyung explained, “I don’t praise Richard III, but I think his (evil) motive is reasonable.” Although he should be treated according to his work and effort, he was alienated because he had a disability despite being the heir to the throne.

The historical Richard III was actually not a hunchback. Regarding the portrayal of him as a hunchback in the play, director Seo Jae-hyung said, “We stayed faithful to Shakespeare’s work rather than the facts. And I wanted to take on a challenge. Among Shakespeare’s thirty-something plays, there is no other work as unorganized as this. Shakespeare is great, but it’s confusing whether he intended to write it or not. It’s vast and complex, and despite warnings from others, I decided to work on it.”

When asked if there were difficulties in performing the enormous amount of lines and diverse emotional lines, Hwang Jung-min said, “Lines are something actors naturally have to do, and if you practice, you memorize them naturally.” Then he joked, “I sweat a lot, so my naturally red face turns even redder, which was difficult.”

At the beginning and end of the play, the mad Queen Margaret’s (Jung Eun-hye) cry, “Do you know what sins you have committed?” leaves a lasting impression. It is as if she is asking the audience, “Do you think you are different from Richard III? Have you committed no sins?” Many cast members also cited this line as the most memorable. That cry continues until February 13.