Interview with Park Hae-soo as Mephisto in the play ‘Faust’
Actor Park Hae-soo mentioned Yu In-chon, his co-star in the play 'Faust'.
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.
Park Hae-soo confessed how he felt about going on stage for the first time in five years, saying, "I was extremely nervous." He said, "I was nervous to the point of death. I said, 'Let's just not get the lines wrong.' I thought I would just do it step by step, just looking at the people in front of me. I felt like I would be nervous when I saw the audience. I don't know what I was thinking when I went up on stage during the first performance. I was 120% nervous. “I did,” he said.
He continued, "I felt grateful when I met the audience who applauded after the first performance. In fact, weren't we going through difficult times? There were a lot of audiences in the audience during the performance, and I was also an audience member who watched the performance during the social distancing restrictions. "That's what I thought. Also, during difficult times, there were times when I wasn't on stage for a while. Although I went through those times, I was thankful that many audiences came and filled the auditorium," he added.
Park Hae-soo said, "I haven't seen any other 'Faust' productions performed in Korea. There was a play called 'Mephisto'. At that time, I was doing 'Frankenstein'. 'Mephisto' was a work where the story was led by Mephisto. We' 'Faust' is different. While practicing with director Yang Jeong-woong, I looked for a lot of different parts," he explained.
He said, "I searched for animal movements, world-famous conductors, and musicians to play the character of Mephisto. While watching the lines from 'Faust,' I thought the melody was beautiful. I was inspired by it and was hooked. It was a concept I came up with myself. “The gestures reminded me of famous orchestra conductors.” The conductor that Park Hae-soo referenced was a tall Italian conductor who conducted while wearing jeans.
Yoo In-chon, who works with Park Hae-soo, previously played Mephisto in 'Faust'. However, Yoo In-chon said that rather than talking about acting, he would guess the lines. The relationship between Park Hae-soo and Yoo In-chon is also special. This is because Park Hae-soo once received the ‘Yoo In-chon Rookie Actor Award’.
Park Hae-soo said, "Teacher Yoo In-chon considers me a fellow actor. He doesn't tell me anything about acting. He just tells me my lines. We also exercise together and warm up. I asked the teacher about his beautiful speaking skills. He said, “Everyone gives up halfway through a long line, but you need to make an effort to deliver it without giving up until the end.”
He also expressed his affection by saying, "When I asked about it, he told me that it had a lot to do with the line from 'Faust'. He said he had two sides to it. He didn't say much for fear of influencing me, but he smiled and brightened the mood."
Meanwhile, the play 'Faust' starring Park Hae-soo will be performed until April 29.
Kang Min-kyung, Ten Asia reporter kkk39@tenasia.co.kr