Actor Lee Juhwa

Actor Lee Juhwa has published the monodrama ‘Wedding Dress’ (Pyeongminsa) as a book. It is the result of recording the entire process of a one-person play from the perspective of an actor, based on 30 years of acting.

A work completed on stage has now been expanded into another form, a book. In effect, the time of the stage has been turned into a record.

A one-person play, a monodrama, is regarded as the highest level of stage for an actor.

It is a structure in which one person must take responsibility for the entire stage. The flow of emotion, the rhythm of scenes, even the rapport with the audience must all be borne alone. There is no give-and-take with a scene partner, nor devices that distribute scenes.

It is a form that exposes the depth, experience, and concentration of the actor. Therefore it is not a stage that just anyone can stand on.

Lee Juhwa recorded the process in chronological order, from preparation to after the performances.

As a result, this book does not remain a simple performance review or a set of behind-the-scenes notes. It continues through planning and script, rehearsals, stage preparation, the tension just before opening, and the changes after the first performance. The focus is not on the outcome but on the process itself.

Lee Juhwa said, “Around the 30-year mark of my acting life, the dream I most wanted to achieve at least once was a monodrama,” adding, “While rehearsing, I felt I wanted to share this process with fellow actors.” The starting point of the book lies in that thought.

Since the first performance in 2023, Lee wrote practice notes every day. She reflected, “I recorded emotions, failures, fears, and even small changes. At some point I felt I had to preserve this time.” Those accumulated records continued as the performances went on and became a single book.

In particular, the section that meticulously records the period from one month before the performance to D-DAY stands out.

Lee explained, “The month right before a performance is the most intense time for an actor,” adding, “I did not want to lose that flow.” Through this span, the mind, body, and thoughts of the actor concentrating on the stage are revealed.

Lee says, “A one-person play offers no escape,” and, “You must shoulder acting skill, stamina, concentration, and even rapport with the audience all by yourself. That is why it is more frightening, and that is why I wanted to challenge it even more.”

Thus the opening sentence of the book, “I am an actor,” is both a declaration and a question. In that vein, she said, “While preparing a monodrama, I kept asking whether I was truly living as an actor. More than acting well, the feeling of whether I am alive right now mattered more.”

Above all, Lee defines a monodrama as “never a solitary undertaking.” She explains, “Past relationships, memories, and emotions gather within one person to become a single story. Everyone who has been part of it, including the audience, creates the work.”

Top left in the photo, with actor Kim Seo-hyung.

For that reason, ‘Wedding Dress’ does not focus on explaining acting technique. It records even the backstage life of an actor who bears a stage alone.

She asserts, “More than how to act well, I wanted to capture fear, wavering, the moments I wanted to give up, and yet the time of getting back on stage. Acting, before technique, is time spent enduring and time spent waiting.”

She continues, “Life is also acting, and acting comes from everyday life.” In other words, it is the accumulation of life, not techniques on stage, that makes acting.

Actor Lee Juhwa

The one-person play ‘Wedding Dress’ expanded to global audiences after its 2023 domestic premiere, continuing with performances in Edinburgh, United Kingdom, and Osaka, Japan. Through this book, Lee says, “The languages were different, but the emotions connected,” and, “When it was praised as a story that is both Korean and universal, I felt that stories cross borders.”

Notably in Japan, she took the stage wearing a wedding dress bearing signatures from the audience. She said, “When I put on that dress, my whole body filled with shivers,” and, “I want to remember that emotion for a long time.”

Lee Juhwa is collecting signatures from audiences around the world on the wedding dress she wore at the premiere. It is a record bearing the traces of those who watched the performance, and a symbol that fully conveys how, although an actor stands on stage alone, in truth she steps up wearing countless hearts.

Finally, Lee offers readers a warm message. She smiled, “This book is not proof that I lived well, but a record that I did not give up,” and, “If someone opens this book and feels, ‘Shall I start again, too?’ that is enough.”

In other words, she hopes the new book ‘Wedding Dress’ will be read not as a flashy success story, but as a record of the time of wavering and yet finally choosing to step onto the stage.