Jeon Do-yeon, Park Hae-soo reprise their roles; first stops in Hong Kong and Singapore
Following its sensational premiere in Seoul, the Korean production of "The Cherry Orchard" will embark on an international tour this fall, beginning with performances in Hong Kong and Singapore.
The original Seoul cast, led by Cannes-winning Jeon Do-yeon and Park Hae-soo, will reprise their roles, joined by fellow original cast members Sohn Sang-gyu, Choi Hee-seo, Lee Ji-hye, Nam Yun-ho, Yoo Byung-hun, Park Yu-rim, Lee Sae-jun and Lee Ju-won.
The adaptation directed by Simon Stone and produced by LG Arts Center reimagines Anton Chekhov’s tragicomedy through the lens of contemporary Korea. During its 2024 debut at LG Arts Center Seoul, the show drew 40,000 theatergoers across 30 performances and achieved a 95 percent seat occupancy rate.
The international tour begins Sept. 19-21 at the Grand Theater of the Hong Kong Cultural Center, where it will open the Asia+ Festival 2025. The festival, organized by Hong Kong’s Leisure and Cultural Services Department, highlights the best of traditional and contemporary performing arts across Asia.
From Nov. 7-9, the production travels to Singapore’s national performing arts center, Esplanade — Theatres on the Bay, for three performances.
Stone, known for his deconstruction and reinterpretation of canonical works such as "Medea" and "Ibsen House," breathes new life into "The Cherry Orchard," setting the story of a crumbling aristocracy and a rising middle class in a Korea undergoing rapid transformation.
“This idea of very rapid change — the ways of the past being lost, the fight between tradition and innovation, the battle between generations, and this very melancholy, almost crazy movement between hope and despair that happens sometimes within a single sentence — is very hard to find,” said Stone, speaking to the press last year.
To him, setting the play in Korea felt like exactly the right way to hold a mirror to all of this.
“This is a truly global collaboration,” said Lee Hyun-jung, head of LG Arts Center Seoul. “It brings together one of the world’s most visionary directors, some of Korea’s finest actors, and an extraordinary team of creatives, including architect Saul Kim and composer Jang Young-gyu. Together, they’ve transformed a 100-year-old Russian play into a living, urgent Korean story.”
Further international invitations are already in the works, including the Adelaide Festival in March 2026 and New York’s Park Avenue Armory in September 2026, with additional global stops under discussion.
hwangdh@heraldcorp.com
