It's theater, my dear Watson
The musical “Arsene Lupin” is currently staged at Blue Square Samsung Card Hall in Seoul. / Courtesy of PMC Production
After conquering TV and films, mystery genre fever moves on to plays
By Kwon Mee-yoo
The crime and mystery genre seems to be enjoying a full-blown renaissance, thanks to well-written films such as “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and smart, modern adaptations of Sherlock Holmes on television. The boom is nowhere more evident than in Korea, where television, film and now theater seem to be overrun by a slew of sleuths.
Predictably, the main catalyst is Holmes, the iconic creation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and arguably Korea’s favorite fictional character of all time from foreign literature.
Koreans’ love for Holmes was boosted by the local airing of the BBC television series “Sherlock,” a widely-acclaimed adaptation of Doyle’s original stories that started in 2010, and the Robert Downey Jr. film, “Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows” the following year.
The popularity of these works have inspired a wealth of mystery dramas on Korean cable television, although none have been able to produce characters remotely as charismatic as Holmes. Thespians are leaping on to the bandwagon, staging a large number of plays based on Holmes and Maurice Leblanc’s famous thief, Arsene Lupin.
Kang Tae-kyu, a critic of popular culture, wonders whether Korea’s renewed love affair with Holmes and the mystery genre is a product of the current, hard-knock times.
“People are living in a rapidly-changing environment where lingering uncertainty creates anxiety. This may have contributed to the rediscovery of Holmes, who is driven by his brutal desire to find the logic in everything,” he said.
The musical “Sherlock Holmes: the Secret of the Anderson Family” is now touring Cheongju and Daegu. / Courtesy of Lehi
Holmes, Lupin in musicals
Holmes and Lupin are central characters in a number of musicals generating a buzz with theatergoers.
In 2011, the musical group Lehi first staged “Sherlock Holmes: the Secret of the Anderson Family,” but the creators have since retooled it to make it edgier. Cloying romantic angles were eliminated — although Watson’s character is set as a woman in this production — and the focus is strictly on the crime-solving adventures and the evolution of the Holmes-Watson partnership.
The musical deftly uses “The Adventure of the Dancing Men,” one of Doyle’s short stories on Holmes, as background to set up the main story, “Anderson,” revolving around twin brothers Adam and Eric Anderson and a woman who disappears.
Lehi is preparing another Holmes musical, tentatively titled “Sherlock Holmes: the Resurrection of Jack the Ripper,” based on an imaginary showdown between the sleuth and the famous serial killer.
Production company PMC has so far garnered a solid following for its musical “Arsene Lupin,” which was first staged in February. However, it could be said that the creators benefited from the popularity of Lupin, a character who, like Holmes, has long been beloved by Koreans. The creators chose to write their own Lupin story rather than using one of the originals and the end result is unconvincing, with the plot being predictable and the writing not witty.
The musical revolves around Lupin and his attempt to find four jewels that had been owned by the French queen Marie Antoinette. In his adventure, he meets his childhood friend Lucy, young detective-to-be Isidore and detective Ganimard, who is always attempting to catch the famous thief but never does. Lupin’s evil rival Leonardo is also after the queen’s jewels and impersonates him after murdering people.
The quality of the musical is quite lame. Actor Kim Da-hyun, who alternates in the role of Lupin with Yang Joon-mo, pretty much admitted this by saying it was hard for him to understand Lupin and develop emotional depth when the script was changing seemingly day by day during rehearsals.
“Sherlock Holmes: the Secret of the Anderson Family” is currently touring Daegu and Cheongju. The second “Sherlock Holmes” musical is slated for later this year. For more information, visit www.lehi.co.kr/holm es2011/main.html or call 070-8794-1717.
“Arsene Lupin” runs through May 5 at Blue Square Samsung Card Hall. Tickets cost from 60,000 to 100,000 won. For more information, visit www.i-pmc.co.kr or call (02) 736-8289.
Exercise your reasoning interactively
Those who want to take an active part in tracking down a criminal should head to the play “Shear Madness,” currently staged at Culture Space Feeling 2 at Daehangno.
“Shear Madness” is an interactive murder mystery play. Each performance is not exactly the same as the audiences take on the role of detectives and vote on the murders of the day.
The play is set at Shear Madness, a hair salon run by George, an openly gay man, and his assistant Suji. Their day starts like any other day, as they get visits from regular customers including wealthy housewife Bo-hyeon and antique dealer Jun-su and a new customer who wants a shave. Chaos ensues when the landlady living upstairs is found dead and everyone inside the hair salon becomes a suspect.
Detective Lee, who was in disguise and requested a shave, and his assistant Detective Jo investigate the suspects and audience members are allowed to help them liberally.
After a brief intermission, they can question the suspects. The actors have to be prepared for absurd questions from curious audience members. The script provides a wide range of possible questions and answers, but it cannot cover everything and actors have to improvise. Classic inquiries from the audience regard Su-ji and Jun-su’s secret relationship, the content of Jun-su’s briefcase or a mysterious phone call by Bo-hyeon, but some questions go beyond common sense.
Once an audience member asked what happened to George’s cats, and he claimed their tails caught fire when his tom yum goong was burnt. Detective Lee was unsure about the whereabouts of the cats, but said his staff might have taken them to a veterinary clinic. Such extemporaneous interaction between the audience and actors is the true charm of “Shear Madness.”
After the question session, the audience votes for who they think is guilty and the result decides the culprit of the day. The multiple ending brings the audience back to “Shear Madness” to see what happened to the other suspects.
“Shear Madness” in Seoul is on open run. Tickets cost 30,000 won. For more information, visit www.shearmadness.kr or call (02) 744-4334.