Courtesy of the National Theater Company of Korea

She completed ‘Brenda’ with restrained emotion.

Actor Jin Seo-yeon leaves a deep resonance in the play ‘His Mother’.

The play ‘His Mother’ is adapted from a play by British playwright Evan Placey based on a true story, and it deals with the psychological collapse and social scrutiny faced by a mother whose underage son has committed a crime. Jin Seo-yeon takes the role of the mother of the perpetrator, ‘Brenda’, convincingly expressing the inner life of a person who crumbles yet endures under extreme circumstances.

Within the play, Brenda is someone who, even as everyday life collapses in an instant, holds out to the end to protect her family. Jin Seo-yeon carefully layers a complex mix of despair, guilt, anger, and protective instinct, completing the character narrative with density.

In particular, from the painful position of a perpetrator’s mother, she depicts with balance the confusion and social scrutiny she faces, as well as the duality of motherhood that seeks to embrace her two children to the very end, eliciting empathy from the audience.

Jin Seo-yeon unravels the character’s increasingly ravaged psychology with delicate modulation of pace and intensity, delivering a weighty message on stage. As a result, expectations are rising further for Jin Seo-yeon as ‘Brenda’ in the remaining performances.

Meanwhile, the play ‘His Mother’ featuring Jin Seo-yeon runs at Myeongdong Arts Theater until May 17.