Jeon Do-yeon returns to stage in 27 years with play ‘The Cherry Orchard’

Jeon Do-yeon on stage in the play \'The Cherry Orchard\'. Courtesy of LG Arts Center Seoul

Before going on stage for the first performance of the play “The Cherry Orchard” on June 4, Jeon Do-yeon thought to herself, “I want to die.” “The nervousness and fear are unbearable. I thought, ‘Why did I shoot myself in the foot when normally I would have stayed home and watched Netflix...’”

But when she got up on stage, she did “what she was supposed to do.” My colleagues kept saying, “Don't worry. You're doing great." “The Cherry Orchard” has become one of the hottest plays, with more than 90 percent of the seats until July 7, the closing date, sold out.

On June 11, Jeon, who returned to the stage for the first time in 27 years, met with reporters at LG Arts Center in Seoul. “I'm adjusting to the stage rather than getting used to it. I'm nervous, but I'm enjoying it little by little,” she said. Up-and-coming director Simon Stone adapted Anton Chekhov’s original play and set it in Korea in 2024. Jeon plays Song Do-young, who returns home after five years in the U.S. following the traumatic loss of her son. Song is a character who cannot hate, although she is addicted to love and alcohol and squanders her family fortune with no plans. Despite the nervousness of her first performance, Jeon quickly regained her confidence.

“Everyone knows that ‘Jeon is good at acting,’ so I don't try to show off that I'm good at acting. When I was younger, I wanted to win awards and be praised, but now it's important for me to express myself so that the audience can accept the work as much as I have accepted it. I wouldn't have chosen the stage to show off my acting, because the stage doesn't hide my mistakes. I just needed the courage to accept myself,” she said.

Simon and the actors had a workshop in January. They talked about their personal histories and life outside of the play to understand each other and create characters. Song was not an easy character to understand. Jeon, who has a daughter in real life, said, “It was hard to understand how she expressed and transferred her pain and suffering to her daughter,” but she added, “Even if you don't want to show it, she will find out at some point. It can happen to anyone.”

Jeon said she is enjoying the moment on stage after a long time. She doesn't mind making small mistakes. She said, "Simon says, 'Make mistakes. Make your partner nervous and uncomfortable.’ It is a directorial intention to create newness in the process of overcoming the fear of making mistakes,” adding, “‘I'm acting with a sense of fulfillment that exceeds my expectations.”

In fact, Jeon is an actress who has no better place to go in films or TV series. She won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes International Film Festival and appeared in many TV series that were loved by the public. Despite her early achievements, Jeon said that she wondered if she could continue acting 10 years ago.

“It's greedy to always want to be something. So I spent time learning to appreciate the little things, and I still do. The world does not revolve around as we want, and it's not like anyone satisfies our greed instead. When I was younger, my dream wasn't to be an actress, and I think that's why I've been acting for so long because it wasn't a goal. Now, the time I spend working is a goal in itself, and I just want to spend that time."

※This article has undergone review by a professional translator after being translated by an AI translation tool.