Actress Jeon Do-yeon returns to stage after 27 years
After a 27-year hiatus from the theater, Cannes-winning actor Jeon Do-yeon will return to the stage, starring in Anton Chekhov’s play “The Cherry Orchard” in June.
The 51-year-old will play opposite “Squid Game” star Park Hae-soo in this highly anticipated production at the LG Arts Center in western Seoul.
This marks Jeon’s first theatrical role since her performance in “Educating Rita” in 1997. Over her 32-year acting career, Jeon has primarily focused on film and television, appearing in some 50 works. Her role in “Secret Sunshine” earned her Best Actress at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.
The Korean adaptation, directed by Simon Stone, will transport the narrative to rapidly changing, contemporary Seoul. According to the organizer, LG Arts Center, Stone paid a visit to Korea in the fall of 2022 to outline the production’s direction and returned in January for a workshop with 10 actors to develop and refine the characters for the play.
In the upcoming production, Jeon will play a modern rendition of Ranevskaya, the landowner struggling to hold on to her family’s estate when Russia was on the brink of revolution in this 1904 play, while Park will take up the role of Lopakhin, a wealthy merchant representing the emerging social class in the original version.
Stone, a big fan of Korean movies and TV shows, said he has always wanted to do projects with Korean actors.
“There is something Korean actors have … that moves between comedy and tragedy effortlessly. There is almost no actor in the world that has it the way Korean actors have it,” he said in a video message.
“It is really interesting to look at the way society here in Seoul and in South Korea in general. It’s kind of always looking to the future. Always battling with what the future will be. That’s a very similar situation to Russia in 1905,” Stone added, expressing excitement about his collaboration in Korea.
Stone’s “The Cherry Orchard” will run from June 4 through July 7 at the LG Arts Center.