“The world’s first female Faust, said to cover it up”

“I received a phone call asking me to share the play’Faust’ and asked. ‘What am I doing there. I can’t do a young and pretty Gretchen’.”
The person who called actor Kim Seong-nyeo (71) two years ago was director Jo Gwang-hwa. It was a request to appear in’Faust Ending’, which was scheduled to perform last year in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the National Theater Company. In an interview with the magazine on the 5th of this month, Seongnyeo Kim told the story at that time. “Then it’s a woman Faust. I covered it and said’I’ll do that!’ It’s the world’s first female Faust.”

Faust of’Faust’ (1832), completed by Goethe, the great gate of Germany, took 60 years to complete. Of course it is male. After gaining a lot of knowledge and being in vain, Faust makes a deal with Mephistopele and indulges in the beautiful woman Gretchen. A contradiction in which the desires of the noble mind and the body are entangled leads the play. Gwanghwa Jo recreated Goethe’s work to create a’Faust Ending’.

“By the way, a woman Faust? Then I started to worry. How to solve it. Everyone thinks of Faust as a male image, but how should I act.” It was particularly difficult to establish a relationship with a young and beautiful woman Gretchen. If Faust is an old woman, should Gretchen be a young man? “But can the audience forgive the love of older women and young men?” Seongnyeo Kim said, “I came to the conclusion that Gretchen should be left as a woman. It’s not physical love, it’s about sharing compassion between humans and sympathy as same-sex.” “Originally, there was a kiss scene between Faust and Gretchen, but I asked them to take it out.”

Faust, who became the first woman in 190 years, does not emphasize both femininity and masculinity. Seongnyeo Kim said, “If you dare to find a color, go to neutral.” “The labor scholar’s concern lies in making perfect humanity. The director said he didn’t have to be a man, so he made it a woman, but he doesn’t have to be a woman. So, starting with a neutral gender, I considered changing the color of the gender by meeting Gretchen and finding motherhood.” Kim Seong-nyeo naturally utters a line that retains the tone of a male labor scholar.

‘Faust Ending’ was originally planned to go on stage last April. When the momentum of Corona 19 was won, Kim Seong-nyeo fell in the practice room five days before her first performance. “There was a scene where Faust made a deal with the devil and started spinning around and going out of the stage as he got younger, and there was a lot of paper on the floor along that day. It turned around, stepped on the paper, floated and fell, but how painful it was with a dislocation or fracture on the shoulder… .” The performance was canceled due to the corona situation, and the first performance is being prepared only on the 26th of this month.

Seongnyeo Kim said, “The play has changed a lot during that time.” Directing Jo Gwang-hwa wrote almost the last one out of three. ‘Faust Ending’ has become a work that clearly captures the worries in the world ahead of the end of mankind, and the humans who hurt each other. “Last year, when I was preparing for the show, I was very excited. I thought that I was the world’s first woman Faustra, so I ran away with great spirits, but for a year I looked back and took a lot of strength.” The part that Seongnyeo Kim paid more attention to for a year is the message of’Faust’. “Even if I come to see the performance because I am curious about the female Faust, I want to go back while thinking about the questions the work gives. How should humans live in a world where viruses outbreak, environmental pollution, and people bite each other and become evil? This question.”

Kim Seong-nyeo debuted as a play in 1976 and has been active in the genre of plays, musicals, and changgeuk. In the 80s and 90s, he was called the’Queen of Madangnori’, leading the revival of Madangnori. “During the play, Minho Jang said,’Only play now,’ and the famous singer Park Gwi-hee, who taught us Gayageum Byeongchang, said,’Do only Korean music.’ But by doing all of this, I have an indescribable variety of identities, whether I am a Korean classical musician, a theater artist, or an administrator. I couldn’t belong anywhere, but I was lonely, but that’s why I’m also doing a female Faust.”

‘Faust Ending’ will be performed at the Myeongdong Arts Theater from the 26th of this month to the 28th of the following month. Kim Seong-nyeo, who served as the artistic director of the National Changgeuk Company from 2012 to 2019, and who also gave up a university professorship last year, said, “It is my first time in my life to go all-in as an actor. It seems like my pores are opening,” he said, “how to end an actor’s life now is a hot topic.” “It doesn’t make sense anymore to take on a good role and be treated, and I just want to play the role of an old man standing behind the scenes and help an older actor to help.” I asked.”

Reporter Kim Ho-jeong [email protected]