The reason why I chose the play ‘The Art of Seduction’ was that I wanted to compare it with the movie of the same title because the movie had already showed and I had watched it. When I saw the stage, I had a question. The movie needed a lot of props, changed between many spots, and was colorful. But on the stage there were only one table and two chairs. Before the play started, an actor came out and introduced etiquette and did a lot of actions to pick up the mood. Thanks to the actor, the atmosphere became lighter, so I thought his role must be necessary. After that, four main characters came out and danced cheerfully, and all of the audience greeted them with applaud.
The main characters, Min-jun and Ji-won, were masters of having a relationship. While walking along the street, Ji-won saw Min-jun. Ji-won was fascinated by him and spilt coffee on his shirt while flirting along with Min-jun. But Ji-won was very embarrassed because Min-jun didn’t move. Though Min-jun and Ji-won had a good feeling from each other while Min-jun ordered Ji-won to clean the shirt, they just showed off pride because they were the masters of having a relationship. The play did not have a happy ending, unlike other romantic comedies.
Although the play featured many other people except Min-jun and Ji-won, just one man played multiple roles of the psychiatrist, crewman, secretary of Min-jun, roommate of Ji-won, and so on. When I saw for the first time that one man played many roles of people, I felt it was very refreshing. I thought that to play multiple roles would make the spectator confused, but it absolutely didn’t. He changed his tone, acting and costumes according to the characters.
The summary was the same as the movie’s, but the play concentrated my attention much more than the movie did. Because of the small and limited stage, the actors allowed us to participate on stage. The response of audience was really good, so the atmosphere of play was really active.
I thought before that plays may be boring because of a lot of limited points, but this play was exciting due to the glaring lights, distinctive way of speaking and realistic story.
I remembered a professor said the romantic comedy is getting more popular nowadays in Korea. In economical tough times, people prefer to see romantic comedies with which they can laugh.
This play was also a romantic comedy at which I laughed a lot for 100 minutes. I think classical or profound plays are necessary, but we need romantic comedies when we are exhausted mentally and physically with hard work.