Veteran Actress Nah Returns to Theater

By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter

Veteran actress Nah Moon-hee, 68, will return to stage with "'night, Mother" 12 years after her last work, "Mother" in 1996.

The play is the eighth among the Yeongeuk Yeoljeon picks (Best Play Series) now performing in Daehangno and also stars prominent actresses Son Sook, Seo Joo-hee and Hwang Jung-min.

"'night, Mother" is a 1983 play by Marsha Norman about a daughter, Jessie and her mother, Thelma, or Mama in the play.

The drama deals with the story between Jessie and Thelma one night after Jessie calmly tells her mother she intends to commit suicide before morning.

The play explores the meaning of life and sheds light on a woman's identity.

The dialogue between Jessie and Thelma portrays how Jessie has planned her own death and Thelma's frustration, reaching a disturbing climax.

Nah will play the role of Thelma who tries to turn her daughter's decision but helplessly accepts it.

The 68-year-old actress is one of the top actresses who can play the role of a maternal figure.

"Unlike TV dramas or films which are made with machines, the play is pure and interactive with the audience experiencing empathy face to face", Nah said in a press conference.

Na, who has three daughters in real life, said that the play is more like her own story. "I am trying to express myself as it is rather than thinking I am acting", said Na.

"I thought I have good communication with my daughters but while acting the role of Thelma who realizes Jessie's solitude only just ahead of her death, I come to think I haven't", she said.

Nah garnered enormous popularity from her appearance in the hit sitcom, "High Kick!" with her comic and warmhearted character, widening her acting scope to comic characters.

For the Korean versions, veteran actress Yoon Seok-hwa starred in the premiere in 1985 and Sohn Sook and Jung Kyung-soon in 1998, Park Jeong-ja and Youn Un-kyung in 1990 and Yoon So-jeong and Oh Jee-hye, who are mother and daughter in real life in 2004.

The play won the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, the original production at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, starred actress Kathy Bates as Jessie.

The play will open on Aug. 29 and will run until Nov. 2 at Nemo Theater in Wonder Space.

Tickets cost from 30,000 to 40,000 won. For more information, call (02) 766-6007.