[On Stage] 'Beotkkotdongsan' Simon Stone "I Believe There Are No Limits to Reinterpreting Classics"

Lecture on 'Reinterpretation and Direction of Classics' in Daehangno
Jeon Do-yeon and Park Hae-soo Star in 'Beotkkotdongsan' Opening Next Month

"Attempts to newly adapt the same story in various ways by each individual continued repeatedly until the Industrial Revolution."

Simon Stone, who is directing the play 'Beotkkotdongsan' (The Cherry Orchard) opening on June 4 at the LG Arts Center, said this during a lecture titled 'Reinterpretation and Direction of Classics' held on the 17th at the Hongik University Daehangno Art Center in Jongno-gu, Seoul. He said he believes there are no limits to reinterpreting classics. While emphasizing the importance of copyright to protect the author's rights to their work, he explained that sometimes it is misused and rather hinders creativity.

Directed by Simon Stone
[Photo by National Theater Company]

Stone is a world-renowned director praised for his excellence in reinterpreting classics. 'Beotkkotdongsan,' planned by LG Arts Center and directed by Stone, is a representative and final work of the great Russian writer Anton Chekhov (1860?1904). It is set in late 19th-century Russia, where the aristocratic society was collapsing after the Emancipation Reform of 1861. Stone plans to adapt this into a story set in 2024 Korean society and stage it. Jeon Do-yeon plays the lead role, returning to the theater stage after 27 years, and Park Hae-soo also appears.

Among Stone's reinterpretations of classics, 'Medea' is famous. Medea is a princess of Colchis in Greek mythology. She falls in love with Jason, the hero who led the Argonaut expedition, helps him, but later, after being abandoned by Jason, kills their two sons. The ancient Greek playwright Euripides wrote the play Medea focusing on Medea's revenge. Stone combined the story of Medea with a 1995 American case where a female doctor killed her two children by arson and poisoned her husband, adapting it into a modern version of Medea, which premiered in 2014 at the International Theater Amsterdam (ITA). The National Theater screened Stone's Medea at the Daloreum Theater last November. Jeon Do-yeon watched Medea on video at that time and decided to appear in Stone's Beotkkotdongsan.

In his lecture, Stone said that Greek plays, which we call classics, were mostly written in large numbers within a short period of 80 to 100 years. He explained that the playwrights at that time were friends, and because they actively discussed their works and inspired each other, vibrant creativity was achieved. Stone said that plays at that time were made using materials or stories that everyone already knew, and audiences often already knew the stories.

Stone said this trend continued until before the Industrial Revolution, when the concept of intellectual property rights was created. In Shakespeare's case, he borrowed material from Latin originals or Greek and Roman plays, and Goethe's (1749?1832) 'Faust' is a rewritten work of a story written about 100 years earlier by the English playwright Christopher Marlowe (1564?1593).

On the 17th, at the Hongik University Daehakro Art Center, Simon Stone's lecture on 'Reinterpretation and Direction of Classics' took place.
[Photo by National Theater Company of Korea]

Stone emphasized, "Until before the Industrial Revolution, since the concept of intellectual property rights did not exist, people imitated each other in various ways."

He also said that while intellectual property rights are important, it feels somewhat strange today that the decision rights over works of authors who have already passed away rest in the hands of companies or lawyers. He mentioned American playwright Arthur Miller (1915?2005), who passed away in 2005. Miller wrote 'Death of a Salesman' and 'The Crucible.'

"Arthur Miller's works have rather become dead works due to such restrictions. It can be seen that there are fewer opportunities to newly rediscover Miller's works."

On the other hand, regarding Chekhov, who was a generation before Miller, and Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen (1828?1906), he said, "Over the past 50 years, especially many works about Chekhov and Ibsen have poured out," adding, "There have been times to constantly adapt or rediscover them."