Let’s Make the Last Party in My Life Which Ends in One Month

The cancer is diagnosed to a middle-aged woman. Her remaining life as a wife, a daughter, and a mother, is only one month now. How does she arrange her life with her surroundings and encountering death before her eye?

“Graduation” from the dramatic company, Cultizen, is the drama which deals with the problem of death which must be met at some time in our life. Considering the drama which is dealing with such a heavy theme, the mood is surprisingly not sad to that extent. And yet it does not portray a light hearted mood.

The women resolve to perform a funeral service during her lifetime. She invited some people who are intimate with her and prepared the situation to recollect those who are not dead yet. There is an old playfellow, a sweetheart with her husband. And her father who mistreated her mother throughout his life, and a friend of her husband who always sought assistance from them also, took seats. They prepare an instant concert for her and recited poems which openly spoke admiringly of her. As the characters in the drama recalled the memories of her in a common sometimes cheerful and sometimes tragic manner, the drama walks to the death, a prearranged settlement, step by step.

In this drama, the point that the writer, the actors, and the production group are trying to convey attracts our attention. Lee Man-hee, the writer, has received public recognition with his excellent skills from his previous dramas: “Please put off the light,” “The year of the dog is above the year of the dragon”, and “Bloom and die and bloom and die” and the scenarios “Promise”, and “Wild card”. Hwang In-ryoi, the producer, also showed a sensitive side in his production history with the TV drama “Angel of shampoo” and the musical “Hard rock café.” Still more, the music from Lee Byung-woo, who took charge of the movie “Scandal,” is added to increase the relish of the drama.

But before everything else, it is the overripe performance of the middle-aged actors that brightens this drama. The performance of Lee Ho-jae and Moon So-ri becomes thrown into the drama as they are really a married couple who has lived together for several decades. The insidious performance of Jang Mi-ja and Kim Jae-kun, and the shy and discouraged emotion expression which Won Mi-won and Yang Jung-hyun show contribute considerably to the completion of the work.

From October 25 to November 2 in a little art theater, the Korean culture and arts foundation. At 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. in the afternoon from Monday to Saturday. At 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. in the afternoon on Sunday (There will be only a public performance at half past seven in the afternoon on October 25th). Cost: from 20,000 won to 30,000 won. 02-765-5476.

Sung-Won Joo swon@donga.com