Interview with Park Hae-soo as Mephisto in the play ‘Faust’
Actor Park Hae-soo mentioned Son Seok-gu.
Hae-soo Park met with Ten Asia at the LG Arts Center Seoul in Gangseo-gu, Seoul on April 6 and told various stories related to the play 'Faust'.
Park Hae-soo, who was active in the dramas 'Six Flying Dragons', 'Prison Playlist', the Netflix series 'Squid Game' and 'Suriname', and the Netflix movies 'Time to Hunt', 'Yacha', and 'Ghost', is back in five years. I returned with the play ‘Faust’.
'Faust', which opened on March 31, is a reinterpretation of the play completed over 60 years by the great German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Through Faust's imperfect actions and choices, direction and inspiration for an imperfect life are presented. In the play, Park Hae-soo plays Mephisto. Mephisto is a character who brings pleasure to Faust and will do anything to bring about his destruction and corruption.
The keyword for theater in 2023 is media actor. Kim Yoo-jung and Jin Ji-hee, former child actors, attempted their first play with 'Seagull'. Son Seok-gu, who is close to Park Hae-soo, and Jeong Seong-il from the Netflix series 'The Glory' are also examples of returning to the stage.
Park Hae-soo began by saying, “Why is Seok-gu…” He said, "I have to ask this directly. I don't know about other people, but there are definitely difficulties with theater for me. I think I chose it out of a sense of challenge even though I was afraid of not being able to edit and the long rehearsal process. There are many times when I have to stand with my entire body on stage. “I think in order to challenge that aspect, you have to feel the practice process. I don’t know why each person chooses a play, but I did,” he said.
According to Hae-su Park, 'Faust' was performed for more than three hours just a few weeks before the opening. Park Hae-soo said, "The audience and the subway were cut off and we couldn't go home, so I thought it wouldn't work, so I took a knife and cut out a lot of the lines. I memorized all the lines for over 3 and a half hours. Surprisingly, they were actors with great passion. They started practicing and 3~ “I had memorized all the long lines in four weeks. I memorized them patiently. Unfortunately, there was an actor who cried when his lines were cut. I was also very sad,” he said.
The reason for cutting the lines was not grand. This was because there were many lines that did not fit the context and jumped more than two steps in my head. Even from an actor's perspective, it was difficult to write lines that were combined only with reasons. In fact, Park Hae-soo is the only character in 'Faust' who appears in both the first and second acts. He laughed and said, "I like it because I don't have any breaks. They intentionally made me appear more often. I said I would participate a lot as well."
Park Hae-soo said, "That's why I added a lot of Gretchen influence. I put in a lot more input than the original script. I tried to keep the connecting line exactly. I was glad that director Yang Jeong-woong made it that way. I exercise hard to maintain my physical strength. Even before starting the work, I tried to keep my body in shape. “I’m eating good things too. I also order red ginseng,” he explained.
Park Hae-soo said, "I feel like I gained a team while doing 'Faust'. My older brother, my older sister, my younger brother, and even my youngest. They do it to the point where my toenails break. I really respect my older brothers and sisters. They are much better actors than me. They have a lot of experience and are the main characters. "These are older brothers and sisters who used to perform. They put all their energy into the performance. The people are also nice. It's a blessing to meet these people," he said, expressing his affection.
Also, "It's hard to say that Actress Won Jin-ah is an actress who is on stage for the first time. I learned patience and delicacy in not giving up. When practicing, if she didn't have enough energy to give up, she would give up, but she kept going until the end. That's why I applauded a lot. Actor Won Jin-ah's perseverance and “I liked the sincerity, the spirit and energy of actor Park Eun-seok. I also liked the skill and beauty of teacher Yoo In-chon. What I got was the ‘Faust’ team,” he said.
Meanwhile, the play 'Faust' starring Park Hae-soo will be performed until April 29.
Kang Min-kyung, Ten Asia reporter kkk39@tenasia.co.kr