The National Theater of Korea will be screening “Yerma” and “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead,” which are National Theatre Live productions, from March 27 to April 1. Britain's National Theatre Live is a program that screens representative plays filmed by the Royal National Theatre in stages or movie theaters in live or as an encore.
The Young Vic’s “Yerma” granted last year the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress and Best Revival, which are performance awards with the highest authority in Britain. Tom Stoppard's 1966 play “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” was at the center of attention as Daniel Radcliff, the protagonist of the “Harry Potter” series, defined exceptional acting.
The original work of “Yerma” is a tragedy written by the epochal Spanish poet and playwright Federico García Lorca (1898-1936). Simon Stone, the director, left the summary of the original work untouched but reinterpreted it by changing the historical period from the sixteenth, seventeenth-century Spain to modern London. The play expresses the changes in emotion effectively from the moment Yerma hopes for a child to the moment of despair when she cannot have a child. Yerma is portrayed by actress Billie Piper, which is worth noticing.
“Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” is a play from the view of “Rosencrantz” and “Guildenstern,” who are minor characters of “Hamlet,” one of Shakespeare’s four tragedies. The two characters express irregularities of life through endless word games such as Zen riddles and wordplays. They even unravel the tragic moment of their death with humor.
Actor Joshua McGuire, whose work spans theatre, television and film, stars as Guildenstern, while Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe plays Rosencrantz. The Guardian commented the two actors as the “perfect duo.”
Jeong-Eun Kim kimje@donga.com