[Review] The Play 'A-deul': Life Is About Somehow Holding On and Enduring a Broken Heart

Theater performance scene from the play 'A Son' [Photo by Yeongeuk Yeoljeon]

[Asia Economy Reporter Byunghee Park] The play Son unfolds like a mirror that is cracking minutely, little by little, very slowly, and without anyone noticing.

In the final part of the play, it feels as if the mirror completely shatters with a loud "Crash! Bang!" But upon closer inspection, the mirror still maintains its shape. One would expect shattered fragments scattered on the floor, but the floor is clean. Only the mirror is torn to pieces.

The mirror desperately holding onto its shattered fragments seems to represent the heart of the father, Pierre, in the play. Pierre already knows that life is about holding onto and enduring the cracks and tears in the heart little by little, and moving forward step by step.

Knowing by now that life is overwhelming for everyone to some extent, a late regret washes over him, wondering if he took his son Nicola's words, "Life is tough," too lightly.

Nicola is still too young to truly understand life. If more time had passed, he could have realized that life involves breaking and getting hurt, waiting for those wounds to heal, and becoming stronger... but Nicola made his conclusion and choice about life too quickly.

He thought he understood life to some extent by now... so why is life still so overwhelming...

The play Son deals with the story of divorced parents and their teenage son suffering from depression. Although the subject is clich?, this play has the power to create a story that is anything but. It delicately shows the cracks gradually forming in Nicola's heart.

It has been quite a while since a play left such a profound emptiness after the performance. It is one of the top plays I have seen this year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.