“Because theater is what I’ve done all my life. It’s like eating.”
Actor Shin Goo, 89, said Monday he is returning to the stage because “I’m still alive and breathing, so I should keep doing what I’ve done my whole life,” speaking at a press event for the play ‘Bullanseo Geumgo’ at NOL Seokyeong Square in Seoul’s Hyehwa neighborhood.
“I want to do it, but there are things that make it difficult,” he said. “Still, I’m going to do my best.” He added that Lee Soon-jae recently told him that someone he used to call “older brother” had died, and said he felt deep regret that “it seems there’s no one left to look up to.”
‘Bullanseo Geumgo’ is a new play written by director Jang Jin, his first in 10 years. It follows a night of commotion as characters try to open a safe. Jang said the idea began without a detailed synopsis.
Jang said the play started from “a simple dream” of wanting Shin onstage. He said he watched Shin in ‘Waiting for Godot’ at the National Theater in May last year and was struck by the performance, regretting he had not worked with him onstage before. “Whether it worked out or not, I wrote it thinking I had to bring him to the stage,” Jang said, adding that he wrote while imagining Shin’s voice and how he might deliver each line.
Jang said he finished the script in mid-September last year and handed Shin a freshly printed copy the next day. About a month later, at Shin’s birthday gathering, Jang recalled, Shin had a drink or two of gaoliang liquor and replied, “Let’s just do it.”
Shin said that after deciding to appear, he worried so much about his condition that he thought of himself as “a body that can’t go onstage.”
“My health isn’t good,” he said, adding he feared it might be “greed” to take the role. He said he is trying to overcome his limitations so the production is not harmed, but “my body doesn’t do what I want.” He said it has become harder to use his body as he wishes, and that he now forgets lines he once memorized: “I turn around and I forget.”
Jang said Shin texted him that ‘Bullanseo Geumgo’ was “the reason I’m alive.” Jang said Shin spent months preparing at home, starting with walking practice. “When I got that message, we couldn’t not work hard,” he said.
Jang also said Shin sets an exceptionally high standard, staying in the rehearsal room and taking detailed notes, including directions he gives to other actors.
‘Bullanseo Geumgo’ runs from March 7 to May 31 at NOL Seokyeong Square, Scone Hall 1.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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