Seoul Shakespeare Company ends 4-year hiatus with 'Measure for Measure'

Actors participate in a rehearsal for Seoul Shakespeare Company's production of "Measure for Measure," held April 7. / Courtesy of Bret Lindquist

By Jamie Finn

Shakespeare once wrote, "Perseverance, my dear Lord, keeps honour bright." And it is here that we find Seoul Shakespeare Company (SSC).

Formed in 2011 out of the ashes of Kevin Gerald Connors' Actors Without Bard'ers, the group has put on a string of much-lauded adaptations of the Bard, such as "King Lear," "The Merchant of Venice" and "Hamlet."

Charles Jeong, SSC's current artistic director, has been involved since the very early days of the company, when he started doing design work like making posters.

"My background is in art, and I majored in painting. But even at college, I loved the theater and wanted to be involved," he said. "I read an article about SSC while I was doing military service. It sounded like something I wanted to do, so I actually cut out the article so I could find out more after my time in the services."

His dedication to the group and palpable adoration of Shakespeare's plays saw him advance. Now, he is the artistic director for the group, meaning he organizes its creative direction.

Managing director Jamie Horan got involved in a similarly low-key way. "I auditioned for 'Titus Andronicus' in 2015 and got the part of Saturninus. He's an important villain in the piece but is very much a B villain," he joked.

From there, his parts in SSC productions continued to grow, as did his role behind the scenes. He joined the board in 2017, and in 2019 he joined Jeong in becoming the directorial team behind the project.

Jeong's title may lend itself more to the creative aspects of running a theater company, and Horan's seems more administrative. Yet, the two seem very happy to share in both aspects of putting on productions. "We make a good team," Jeong said. "He is like the prime minister, and I am the queen."

As well as the two directors, there is also a board of people whose contributions Horan and Jeong are eager to highlight. This includes Amanda Conkey as social media coordinator, Ha Ji-woon as event coordinator and Jason Cutler and Christopher Zaczek as artistic associates.

SSC is a non-profit organization, and the entire board takes part voluntarily. "We do it out of love for it," Jeong said. "If our shows can make a profit, then that's a few nicer costumes that we can get next time. It's maybe a better theater that we can invest in. All the money goes back into productions."

Audiences can expect big changes under Jeong and Horan's stewardship. "We feel like, in some ways, we're starting again from scratch," Horan said. "The previous directors were... They were incredibly involved. They were two of the most dedicated people we've ever worked with. We're so grateful to them for everything they did to advance the company. Lauren (Ash-Morgan), especially, was involved in every aspect of a production, from writing, directing, casting and administration. You would find her on opening night sewing costumes or something in the back. When (she and Michael Downey) moved to the U.K. to start their own theater company, they left a huge crater ― a creative one and a leadership one. Add to that the impact of COVID, which was a big reset button for us, and in many ways, it feels like we have a blank canvas to start with. We're excited to put our creative stamp on the company."

The revamped SSC has already begun showing its creative vision with a recent smaller-scale show celebrating the work of Edgar Allan Poe called "Demon in My View." "It's something I've wanted to do for a long time," said Horan, who adapted and directed the performance. "I've been involved with theater since I was about six, but the first thing I remember seeing was Dracula. I was absolutely stricken with how amazing it felt, you know. The way they use lighting and all these effects, I was like, that's amazing."

He added, "I've also always been a big fan of Poe's work. 'The Raven' is one of my favorite poems. It's just gorgeous. And I thought, what if we could do this in a classic horror style on stage?"

Jeong joked, "It was an added bonus that we didn't have to pay for licensing."

The show was a success, with most performances in its short run being sold out. It helped the team overcome their apprehension and gave them the impetus to start working on larger, Shakespearian projects. "I think all of us were itching as a company to do something," Jeong said. "Other companies had already started returning after the pandemic, and we wanted to get back there, too. We were pretty worried about being rusty, though. For many of us, it had been years since we'd been on stage with an audience. But once we got up on stage, it felt right, and it felt amazing."

Being out of practice wasn't the only concern of theirs. "I was worried that people must have forgotten about us," Jeong said.

Building on the success of "Demon in My View," the group recently announced its first Shakespeare show in four years ― "Measure for Measure."?

In the play, Duke Vincentio of Vienna abdicates his governing responsibilities, leaving for a diplomatic mission and placing the harshly pious Judge Angelo in charge. The story follows the social upheaval caused by Angelo's reign, threading through some difficult themes. SSC's production will be directed by Horan and will star Martin Boswell as Duke Vincentio, Jason Lane Cutler as Angelo, Lauren Ramsden as Isabella and Jeff Wagner as Claudio.

"We try to alternate; tragedy, then comedy, then tragedy, then comedy for each successive year. The last thing we did was 'Lear.' So this time, we have to do a comedy."?

Yet, as you can see from the synopsis, this play has much more going on than its comedic elements. Known as one of Shakespeare's "problem plays," "Measure for Measure" is a tragicomedy that doesn't conform easily to classification. The levity spread throughout is counterweighted by social issues and adult themes such as corruption, abuse of power and sexual assault. "There are hilarious scenes in it," Jeong said. "There's a lot of juxtaposition of light and dark, you know, coming back and forth. So it's a roller coaster."

Horan wastes no time declaring his excitement for this production. "'Measure for Measure' is my favorite Shakespeare play," he said. "Whenever I'm in a play, that usually becomes my favorite. It was true of 'A Winter's Tale' and 'Merchant of Venice," but 'Measure for Measure' really does have a special place for me. I know it sounds like a copout, but it's true."?

Actors participate in a rehearsal for Seoul Shakespeare Company's production of "Measure for Measure," held April 7. / Courtesy of Bret Lindquist

"One of the many things I love about this play," Horan said, "is how all the characters are deeply flawed. Each character has depth and commits questionable actions at times. And they're all placed in a world that affects them and drives their character development."

"Yeah," Jeong added, "everyone in this play is completely f***** up."

One of the things that drew the company towards this play is the story's contemporary resonance. "This is Shakespeare's most modern play," Horan said. "Many of its themes are reflected in society today. Things like the #MeToo movement, the criminalization of sex work, the responsibilities of those in power. These are all core themes of the play."

"Isabella has a very modern mindset," Jeong said. "She has great lines like, 'It is excellent to have a giant's strength, but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant.' I'm no expert in the law, but this raises so many interesting questions about the law that are worth studying ― What is the law, and how should justice be imparted upon society?"

The modern resonance is one of the reasons why Horan has decided not to set "Measure for Measure" in the 1600s but in 1980s Vienna. "The 1980s is an interesting decade. It's a kind of hangover from the hedonism of the 60s and 70s. The ascent of Reagan and Thatcher led to a decade of ruthless conservatism ― economically and, in some ways, socially. It was also when the religious right started making bedfellows with the Republicans. We saw 'America First' policies, politicians ignoring or even condemning people with AIDS, penalizing sex workers, etcetera. Much of the class politics and pious religious rhetoric of 'Measure for Measure' makes it perfectly analogous to the 1980s. Also, the music of that era kicked ass."

The members of SSC are going all out to create an immersive 1980 experience, right down to the costumes. "Our costume designer, Francesca Bujdak, is from Berlin, which isn't Vienna but shares a lot of culture with Vienna," Horan said. "She's been communicating with her family and doing a ton of research to find period-appropriate outfits and make things feel authentic."

Jeong explained how setting it in the 1980s means that local audiences could feel a special connection to it. "1980s Korea is a time of extreme juxtaposition. We had a military dictatorship, an extremely oppressive conservative government and tragic incidents like the Gwangju Massacre. At the same time, we had a vibrant cultural uprising that was coming from young people, especially students. When you compare Angelo using brutal religious conservatism to oppress people in 'Measure for Measure' and compare it to what was happening in Korea in the 80s, it's almost a parallel opposite. The government here famously promoted a procedure called the 'Three S Policy': sex, screens and sports. Using that policy, they tried to squash political dissent by increasing the amount of sexual activity as a distraction. It makes for an interesting contrast to the play."

Challenging, dark, humorous and poignant, SSC's "Measure for Measure" will be the first part of what promises to be a bright future of creativity for the theater group. After all, it is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.

The play will run nine times on six dates over the next three weekends at Daehangno's Platform 74. Visit seoulshakespearecompany.org for more information.

Jamie Finn is chief editor of?Platform Magazine.