Play highlights real murder case

Features

Published: 13 Jul. 2006, 20:18

Play highlights real murder case

Despite being unwelcome to those involved in the reality it is based on, Byun Jung-joo says that “Come and See Me,” the chilling yet sarcastically funny thriller, reminded him why theaters stage thrillers based on true stories.
His characters, who hunt for a rural rapist and killer, make the audience ponder this also, as Byun tells the audience through subtitles, “I hope you [the murderer] came here to watch this.”
Based on a true serial murder case that shocked a Hwaseong village community in the late 1980s, the play features four rural cops trying to find the killer. They never do, just like the sad reality that was also made in 2003 into a successful film, “Memories of Murder.”
“The 15-year statue of limitations for murder ran out as of this year and the criminals cannot be prosecuted anymore,” says Byun. “But the play has been on for the last 10 years and it will go on because I want the killer to know we will never forget what he did.
Staging the play in Daehangno for its 11th year, Byun made some changes when he took the baton from the previous director Kim Kwang-lim, who also wrote the script. The characters have been recast and the show is at a little theater that Byun calls an ideal place for the “audience to feel that they are actually on the scene of the crime, with the cops.”
For those who enjoyed the later cinematic version of the same storyline, Byun’s theatrical version focuses more on social ills. The cops blunder through the investigation and a manipulative reporter uses her policeman lover to get information for her article.

by Lee Min-a

“Come and See Me” continues through September 3 at the Dongsoong Art Center, near exit 1 of Hyehwa subway station, line no. 4. The show starts at 8 p.m. weekdays, 4 p.m and 7 p.m. Saturdays and 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are 25,000 won ($26). Student discounts are available. For reservations, call, 1588-7890.