Cast as the fallen noble family matriarch 'Ryuba'
Park Hae-soo as 'Ropahin'... Son Sang-gyu, Nam Yoon-ho, and others
'The Queen of Cannes,' Jeon Do-yeon, will take the stage in a play for the first time in 27 years.
LG Arts Center announced on the 20th that Jeon Do-yeon will appear as the female lead 'Lyuba' in the play The Cherry Orchard, which will be performed from June 4 to July 7 at LG Arts Center Seoul, Signature Hall.
This is Jeon Do-yeon's first time on the theater stage since 1997's Taming of the Shrew. Park Hae-soo will co-star as the cold-hearted merchant 'Lopakhin,' acting alongside Jeon Do-yeon. Park Hae-soo appeared as Mephisto in the play Faust last year on the LG Arts Center Seoul stage. Jeon Do-yeon and Park Hae-soo are scheduled to perform 30 shows in a one-cast format.
The Cherry Orchard is a representative and final work of the great Russian writer Anton Chekhov. The play is set in late 19th-century Russia, after the 1861 Emancipation Reform of the serfs, depicting the decline of the aristocratic society. Lyuba is the mistress of a declining noble family, unaware of worldly affairs. Lopakhin is a beneficiary of the Emancipation Reform. Lopakhin's father was a serf of Lyuba's family, but after the reform, Lopakhin succeeded commercially and made a fortune. Lopakhin advises Lyuba, the landowner, to sell the cherry orchard before it goes to auction, but Lyuba does not understand his words. Eventually, the cherry orchard is auctioned off, and Lopakhin wins the bid, becoming the new owner of the cherry orchard.
The Cherry Orchard is known to have greatly influenced Park Kyung-ni's epic novel Toji (The Land).
In addition to Jeon Do-yeon and Park Hae-soo, many distinguished actors will appear. Son Sang-gyu, currently performing in the play Repairing the Living at Jeongdong Theater; Choi Hee-seo, who won the Best Actress award at the Grand Bell Awards for the film Park Yeol; Lee Ji-hye, who won the Acting Award at the 2020 Seoul Theater Festival for the play Joy, Blister, Burn; Nam Yoon-ho, who played the lead role Coriolanus in the 2021 play Coriolanus and recently gave an impressive performance as Kang Dong-chan in the film Spring in Seoul; Yoo Byung-hoon, who appeared in plays such as King Lear Side Story and Slipped and Got Hit; rising star Park Yu-rim, who debuted in the film Drive My Car and played a lead role in Netflix's Ballerina; Lee Se-jun, the lead actor in the film Action Hero, which won the Bucheon Fantastic Film Festival's Best Film Award; and Lee Joo-won, who delivered an impressive performance in the Lee Ba-gyeom Short Film Project, will also appear.
The direction of The Cherry Orchard is by Simon Stone, a director active on the world's greatest stages such as the UK's National Theatre and New York's Metropolitan Opera. LG Arts Center has been discussing new productions with world-renowned directors since 2021 to create works for global audiences, and they were able to share a vision with Stone. It was also explained that Stone is a long-time fan of Korean culture, having watched over 200 Korean films. Stone conceived the overall direction of the work during a preliminary visit in the fall of 2022 and returned to Seoul in January this year to conduct a week-long workshop with 10 actors to collaboratively sketch the characters.
Lee Hyun-jung, director of LG Arts Center, said, "The Cherry Orchard is a special performance where a world-class director and top actors will newly reinterpret the great original work by incorporating contemporary Korean perspectives. This upcoming performance at LG Arts Center Seoul will be the world premiere, and we plan to develop it into a global production touring theaters worldwide in Korean."
LG Arts Center is currently selling tickets for the performances through its website and major ticketing platforms until June 16. Remaining tickets will be available for sale starting in April.
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