Director Lee Eung-jin (left in photo) and actor Lee Joo-hwa (right)

When the final scene of the play ‘The Misunderstanding’ ended, the audience held its breath for a moment. Soon after, people began to rise one by one. Then, after a brief silence, a standing ovation erupted.

The actors, including Lee Joo-hwa as Saetbyeol, stood on stage for some time amid a shower of applause. Their all-out performances left dark bruises across their bodies, but they could not hide the swell of emotion as the applause rolled in from the house.

Among those in the audience who offered a standing ovation that day (the 9th) was former KBS managing director Lee Eung-jin, a ‘legend’ of Korean drama.

Director Lee Eung-jin is the director of the national drama ‘First Love’, which starred Bae Yong-joon, Choi Soo-jong, and others. ‘First Love’ recorded the highest viewership rating in Korean broadcast history at 65.8%, cementing its place in history.

He is also a star PD who directed ‘A House Full of Daughters’, ‘That Winter Was Warm’, and ‘The Leopard of Kilimanjaro’. While serving as head of the drama department, he planned such series as ‘IRIS’, ‘Chuno’, ‘The King of Baking, Kim Takgu’, and ‘Sungkyunkwan Scandal’.

He also served as the inaugural director of the Korea Drama Research Institute and was active in many fields, including serving as a judge at various overseas awards and at the Blue Dragon Film Awards.

After watching the Camus original ‘The Misunderstanding’, Lee Eung-jin said, “Although the piece is by no means an easy classic, it has been intricately adapted and directed so that audiences can understand it,” and added, “In particular, the detail of a single wheelchair on stage being used in their own ways by the mother, daughter, brother, and sister-in-law to build each character’s narrative, and even the harrowing moment of plunging a head into the water falling from the ceiling. The intense deliberation of director Choi Won-seok, contained in every device on the stage, was palpable.”

This confirms that the detailed choices of Choi Won-seokwho adapted and directed the play ‘The Misunderstanding’ and also appeared as an actorand the actors, with their tightly woven performances, were on the right track.

He also offered high praise for Lee Joo-hwa’s acting. A KBS open-recruit talent, Lee Joo-hwa has ties with director Lee Eung-jin through several works, including ‘First Love’.

The director nodded, saying, “The sight of actor Lee Joo-hwa commanding the stage without hesitation with a bare, unmade-up face was fearfully beautiful,” and, “On a face that revealed the traces of life rather than heavy makeup, there was a power of truth that only an actor wearing their own clothes can possess.”

In response, Lee Joo-hwa said, “The set where I worked with the director is still vivid, so I was truly choked up by the praise,” and added, “I endured with a single resolve to live on stage like a real Saetbyeol, and I am grateful because it feels like you recognized that sincerity.”

Albert Camus’s representative work ‘The Misunderstanding’ carries his signature absurdity and questions about human existence, and Saetbyeol, played by Lee Joo-hwa, is not a simple villain. She repeatedly chooses to kill lodgers to escape poverty, but within that are fear and desperation at being unable to break free from reality, intertwined with fractures that are difficult for her to bear.

Forcing audiences to confront the human face head-on, ‘The Misunderstanding’ runs at Huam Stage in Daehangno through May 31.

From the top left of the photo, clockwise: Lee Joo-hwa, Lee Jae-hee, Kang Seon-suk, Ji Geun-woo, and director Choi Won-seok. Photo courtesy of | Korea Life Theater Association Chairman Jeong Jung-heon social media