“Be Aware, You might faint from laughing” What first came to your mind after seeing this warning? How? CAH also went to see the play thinking “how great is it to have that much confidence?” This play is the nationwide play “The Liar.” There would be lots saying “Oh! I know this!” Since it’s called a nationwide play, lots should have heard and seen this play. Now let’s take a deeper look at this play “The Liar.”

1) Let’s learn about the history of “The Liar”
Viewed by more than 3.5million citizens, play “The Liar” was first played in 1999. What do you think was the reason a play that started with only 2 people ended up with more than 3 million viewers? Laughter it was. Play “The Liar” was loved worldwide in such countries like United Kingdom, Indonesia, USA and so on. After its first performance in Korea in 1999, Korea is the one and only country performing “The Liar” for 16 years. “A piece that gives joy for people watching a play for the first time” “A story that helps us relieve stress” “A fascinating story” this is the long lasting nationwide play, a nationwide laughter “The Liar.”

2) Into the charming small theatre…
Most plays are played in a small theatre. There aren’t many seats, the stage is small and the seats are stuck very close to each other. Since it’s a small stage, the great sounds and stage effects could be comparatively small compared to a big theatre. These are the loved points about a big theatre; small theatres are also loved for the opposite points. As the space between the audience and the actors isn’t wide, more intimacy could be felt. You could become the main characters of the play as you can take a closer look at the facial expressions. The theatre where ‘The Liar’ is played is also small and due to the close space you could be more focused on the feeling of the characters and the situation by looking at their actions and expressions.

3) What is the story?
“Caught making a lie is worse than telling a lie!” A quote said by John Smith, a taxi driver, also known as “the liar”. John has two households between Mary and Babara, which is obviously illegal. How he and his one friend, Stanely Gardner, behave in order to not get caught is nonsense but at the same time it’s interesting to look at. The lie he makes is in one hand confusing and doubtful but still on the other hand trustworthy. Seen in a far end view, the story of “The Liar” goes extremely out of control. Having two households, can this actually happen in Korea or even anywhere else in the world? How can someone be deceived in such situation? After hearing this story, people would definitely criticize John. Although this is something that is unacceptable, the fact you cannot hate John while watching the play is an undeniable. How would John solve this “out-of-control” story?

4) A story that would never happen to me
The reason why the story of “The Liar” isn’t far away from us is because the characters in the play aren’t any more special but are people usually can be seen around us. Having two households is definitely not a “usually seen” scene and it could be thought as a story only in dramas. Still, Johns’ job is a taxi-driver, just a normal man who has to take over the life of a family. His friend who helps him all the way with his lies, Stanley Gardner, is an unemployed man who can be generally seen in our society. The reason why John could have two households was because of his job. A rotation shift between times helped him get through both houses with a perfect schedule, also with Stanley he could perfectly get through everything. These very ordinary days showed reality to the audience. There are three points to pay attention to in “The Liar.” Firstly, a bittersweet lie. The liar John Smith and the other liar Stanley Gardner’s acts are hard to understand but still humorous and funny. Secondly, the crisis that is felt when each lies get revealed. As the lies are added, the characters start to feel confused and search for more clues. Final point is the fascinating little theatre. There are two households and lots of characters in the play but only one stage. By looking at the characters being doubtful and deceived at the same time, you would probably feel a fast heartbeat inside yourself.

5) Great Talker, Great Liar
“A Liar is not believed even though he tells the truth”, says Cicero. When the play started we could see people smiling along but as time went there was hard and loud laughter everywhere. John and Stanley really made the play interesting for the audience. As obviously seen from the title, this play is about a liar. The story starts by adding lies on lies and also ends up with a lie. After watching the play, CAH thought about lies. The lie that John made in the beginning had to be covered by other lies as time passed. The lie which was made for himself got bigger, hurting feelings of others, which showed how lies can be dangerous. We often tell lies in our lives. There are times of white lies but most of the times those lies are just for ourselves. Watching John, his lies to solve the situation he made and the hurt feelings that Mary, Babara, Officer Potter and more had, CAH felt truth is always the best. Play “The Liar” gave us joy and humor as well as a deep lesson and thought at the same time.

What if you had two households? What if you are married to two people in a close distance, living a perfect life dealing with the schedule? John did this impossible thing and even though the ending wasn’t that delightful, you would have lots of feelings at the same time; jealous, disconcerted, and funny. The fact that “The Liar” provides us with not only humor and joy but a deep lesson as well may be the reason why it has attracted so many audiences.

<Play information>
Place: Broadway Arthall
Date: 2013.11.15~2014.04.30
Price: 30,000 won

 

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