“Welcome! It’s Shear Madness!”

This play, which draws aside the curtains as if spurring the door with a refreshing voice, cheerfully and wittily captures a whodunit story about a murder in a beauty salon named 'Shear Madness'. It differs from other plays in that the plot and ending are not fixed, and the culprit of each murder case is different. Because it is a par- ticipatory play that leads the ending with the audience, the audience does not just watch the play, but they help to deduce the culprit through Q&As and communicating with the actors. Based on the clues given on stage and the suspect's whereabouts, the audience becomes a detective and a jury member to solve the hidden story. Let's find out about Shear Madness, a play that started in 2015 and is still running in Daehak-ro!

#Synopsis

       One day, a murder occurred on the upper floor of the hair salon 'Shear Madness'. The murdered man was Bayer Ha. Once a popular pianist, he was murdered while living above a hair salon in a building he owned. In order to find out who is behind the case, the detec- tives work undercover. They disguise themselves as customers and point out people who appear at the beauty salon as suspects. Each suspect claims an alibi and appeals for their innocence. It is up to the audience to question each suspect and catch the culprit.

#Character Relationship of the Murder Mystery

<Suspects>

Cho Ho-jin: A hot-tempered salon director who is offended by Bayer Ha’s piano noise.

Jang Mi-sook(Suji): A stylish hairstylist. She secretly goes out with Oh Joon-su,

Han Bo-hyun: A typical Madam wanting to maintain her dignified and strong image.

Oh Joon-su: A handsome looking antique seller.

<Detectives>

Jo Young-min: A clumsy young detective who does his best in the investigation.

Kang Woo-jin: A case solver with natural senses.

<Victim>

Bayer Ha: An amazing pianist and landlord of the hair salon.

#Its Original Form Encourages Us to Visit on Repeat!

       The ending is made together with the audience, which makes the play special and original. In the play, the detective asks the audiences, ‘Was there anything suspicious?’ or ‘Did you have any questions about Oh Joon-su?‘ If the Part 1 of the play is the background and outline of the case, which consists only of the actors' performances, Part 2 after the intermission unravels the intent and order of the crime as the detectives and the audience investigate the case. In the second part, where the progress of the murder case is reenacted and traces are revealed, watchers analyze whether the actors and the reen- actment scenes shown in the first part are true as if they were searching for the wrong picture, and if there are differences, they shout out to the actors. The sharp questions from the audience and the impromptu excuses of the suspects responding to the scene analysis make everyone feel like they belong to the play and feel excited every time the investigation tightens. At the end, the audience votes the culprit through a show of hands, and the person who receives the most votes becomes the culprit of the day. This format, in which the culprit changes every day according to the number of votes, is said to have been introduced for the first time in Korea as a creative way for Shear Madness to run a play. This 'original format' arouses readers' curiosity about other endings and encourages re-viewing.

#A Long Run Steady Seller

       This play, which started in the United States in 1980, has been performed around the world enough to set a Guinness record for the longest running play in US. The impromptu per- formances of the actors, such as answering questions from the audience, work successfully. Audience members’ supports for the play is hot in Korea as well. Despite performing every day, the seats are never empty. The 10-minute scene showing the daily life of a beauty salon before the performance starts shows a flamboyant show of a hairdresser actually washing a customer actor's hair, captivating all audiences and focusing their attention on a short time. Even during breaks, the actors communicate with the audience and fill up the running time so that there is no dull moment. The improvisational acting skills of the actors must be able to reproduce various scenarios in the ending that is in the hands of the audience every day. And the solid story composition and humor tailored to the times add strength. This admirable harmony gives legitimacy to the popularity of the play and makes it possible to steadily establish itself.

Let's catch today's culprit today! Being able to catch today's culprit only today means that the innocent today could be the guilty tomorrow. The culprit changes 365 days a year, but it is only today that we sit in the seat of a great detective to guess the culprit by asking sharp questions with today's clues. Therefore, even if you re-watch this play, the entire outline of the story will be new with a fresh ending. We invite you to Shear Madness, a beauty salon full of eyes and ears with great actors' passionate performances.

Tip: As you can infer from the title of the play, ‘Shear Madness,’ don’t forget the scissors are an important clue when it comes to finding out the culprit!

Date: 2015.11.12~Open Run

Place: Kontenz Planning

Ticket Price: 35,000 won

Running Time: 110 minutes, Intermission 10 minutes