December is coming. How was your 2007 year? The Chung-Ang Herald would like to introduce you to one play that is beautiful, adequate for the time the end of the year. The impression of its curious and peculiar title is quiet strong, ‘Our Bad Magnet’!
‘Line B5, number 15’. The seat was on the fourth and the right-end. Just before the curtain went up and thanks to the seats not taken, moved to the second, center seat. It view was much better. In the head, drawing pictures that the actors would move right in front of the eyes, CAH was bound to calm agitate mind. At 8 o’clock, the little theater became dark and a new world showed up. The audiences became absorbed into the drama…
“The only way I can approach her is being a bad magnet. A bad magnet does not pull things and it is not pushed out, too.”
While watching the Won-seok’s fairy tale, ‘Bad Magnet’, the spectators can understand a little about the meaning of the title and the character of Won-seok. For not doing push out the things want to be close friends, the magnet selected to kill himself. As you know well, the magnet that has no magnetic properties do not push out. Maybe the magnet represents Won-seok, a very sad person. He was too lonely to be positive. He was too fragile to survive in society. And he was too special to become normal.
The play flows centering on this mysterious, gloomy man. When he was 9 years old, he had three friends and they used to call him saying ‘Dol-gang-yee’, which means abnormal person. The state continued until his age 19. In the end, he could not be a real member of his friends group. He left his friends. Even Min-ho, who was the closest friend of him among three guys, seemed to understand him well but it did not seem real to Won-seok. Obviously though, three friends did not tease him; four guys were friends forever anyway. However, it is also apparent that they did not care how Won-seok felt. Their psychological conflicts are not simple at all. (You may find it better while watching the play in the theater.)
Ironically, after his disappearance, his fairy tales became famous and the old friends gathered because of profit, which was a result from selling his fairy tales. With his sentences, he could be remembered for a long time, though the memories were different individually. Anyway, he is alive in the heart of his friends. Thus, the play is sad, but beautiful.
There are two fairy tales from Won-seok in the play; ‘The sky garden’ and ‘Bad magnet’. When he read the story with a placid, clear voice, the other actors showed a doll play. It was a small part, a story within a story. The way that he progresses through the plot was novel. The epilogues of the two stories were both splendid. There was solitude, sorrowful feelings of Won-seok as a human being. (CAH do not introduce the wonderful stories more because it is better to watch them in the theater, which is ‘live’.)
In the meantime, you can also laugh watching the performance. The actors acting are not only 19, 29 years old people, but also 9 year-old children. When you see them being unfashionably dressed and talk about previous themes(those about two scores years ago) that they performed. You could not help, but laugh.
It had elaborate frames and an exquisite emotional flow from the actors. From start to finish, the play made people not to lose their concentration. After the play, leaving the small theater, boarding the bus or subway, entering their own home, people thought about the unhappy man, Won-seok. They would remember the fairy tales. And some of them would believe that the Magnet which wanted to be a Bad Magnet will surely be happy. A fatal, beautiful play has consoled the desolate hearts of the people in a strong way, in the cold winter, at the end of the year.
Before starting the show, being excited to see the waiting room, CAH visited the space. YU YEONSOO, the director was in and after a second, JUNG WONJO, who plays the role of ‘Won-seok’ came in. Below is the conversation with them.Before starting the show, being excited to see the waiting room, CAH visited the space. YU YEONSOO, the director was in and after a second, JUNG WONJO, who plays the role of ‘Won-seok’ came in. Below is the conversation with them.
CAH: Why did you choose to perform ‘Our Bad Magnet’?
YU: These days, musicals are the trend. However, I was attracted by the play, ‘Our Bad Magnet’. It was a typical ‘play’ that could feel lots of dramatic points. It was worthy of a traditional drama as well as give us lots of food for thought and I liked those points.
JUNG: I did as I was told to do it. (laugh) First, the script was very interesting. I liked that I could act in different roles with different ages such as 9, 19, and 29 years old, and also I am interested in the framework of a story which is not in order, has an unique style, inserted in fairy tales, etc.
CAH: ‘Won-seok’ looks so special and mysterious. What kind of person is he?
YU: Well, I think it is not my question. The actor who acts him should answer.
JUNG: I think ‘Won-seok’ is a person who does not know well about ‘method or process’. He is gifted and also wants to approach people but he does not know how he can do. It is why he becomes unfortunate. In the play, two unusual fairy tales which he left to his friends are placed a great deal of weight. Because of him in the future, other friends gather together and talk about him.
CAH: Is there any episodes that remain in your memory?
YU: Well, though it could not be an episode. In the play, when Won-seok narrates a fairy tale, the other actors had to perform a doll play. It might be a little bit tough for them.
JUNG: Because the actors are all men, you might think that the atmosphere was quiet dark and dull but it was not true at all. Working with only several men was interesting in its way and I liked it. We could make team work harmoniously.
CAH: What is your favorite scene or line?
YU: In the last scene, flower-rain dropped from the sky with Won-seok’s narration and music. I think the scene is splendid in every respect.
JUNG: I love the part that Won-seok reads his fairy tales. In the fairy tales, there were many themes that the play wanted to talk. And those are my scenes, too, it is important.
YU: (laugh) Everyone loves their own scenes.
CAH: Speak briefly about ‘Our Bad Magnet’ to people who have not seen it.
YU: It is a warm-hearted fairy tale for adults who have lost their purity as they grow into adulthood. If you watch it, you can spend a great deal of time looking back on your own happy times.
JUNG: It is a really good play. Actually, it does not talk about ‘enormous’ story, but that is why it is wonderful; we can rethink about our life or something that we have not thought of often.
Synopsis
The play consists of 3 parts(9, 19, and 29 years old), which are stories of 4 men. When they are 9 years old, Min-ho, Eun-chul and Bong-gu are sworn friends, but Won-seok, who moved from Seoul, is not accustomed to getting along with them. At their own secret place, they put their respective treasures into the time capsule. Won-seok’s one of fairy tales is recorded by him and the tape is put into the capsule. Ten years later, they joined school bands, but Won-seok is seceded from the band by friends for differences in musical tastes. That night, Won-seok set fire to the abolished-school(his special place) and disappeared. He only left his fairy tales. After 10 years, three friends gathered again to divide selling profits of Won-seok’s fairy tales…