Actors Shin Goo and Park Geun-hyung shared their thoughts on the venue size and their hopes for a complete sell-out.
A press conference for the play ‘The Merchant of Venice’ was held on the afternoon of May 12 at NOL Seogyeong Square Scon Hall 1 in Jongno-gu, Seoul. The event was attended by actors Shin Goo, Park Geun-hyung, Lee Seung-ju, Kai, Choi Soo-young, Won Jin-ah, Lee Sang-yoon, Kim Seul-gi, Kim Ah-young, Choi Jung-heon, Jo Dal-hwan, Park Myung-hoon, Han Se-ra, and director Oh Kyung-taek.
Based on Shakespeare’s representative comedy, ‘The Merchant of Venice’ centers on the conflict between law and mercy, and revenge and choice. This production maintains the classic structure while being reconstructed to vividly bring out the emotions and confrontations between characters.
Regarding the play being staged at the National Theater of Korea’s Haeoreum Theater, which seats about 1,200 people, Shin Goo mentioned, “The National Theater used to be in Myeong-dong, but the current theater is a new building. However, the theater itself is quite large for performing.”
He expressed his ambition, saying, “I mentioned that we would need 30,000 people to make the entire run a sell-out. Since Seoul is a city of 10 million, I wondered why it would be difficult to mobilize 30,000. We are working hard to fill the seats. I really want to see it full.”
Park Geun-hyung added, “I believe the reason we are staging this at Haeoreum Theater is that we have entered a phase where commercial plays are performed in large theaters. I think true commercial theater has finally emerged. We consider ourselves the first in this regard and will do our absolute best.”
Meanwhile, ‘The Merchant of Venice’ will open on July 8 at the National Theater of Korea, Haeoreum Theater in Jung-gu, Seoul.
