MYSTERY DRAMAS are always interesting. In fact, mystery dramas have been loved by millions of people for a long period of time as these dramas stimulate people’s curiosity and enable them to imagine their own plot for the rest of the story. In this way, a mystery drama with a reversal is guaranteed to keep audiences on the edge of their seats… The play Hangover: the Start of the Game, is that very play which will stimulate your curiosity and keep you imagining about what is to happen next. 

Why would I kill my beloved wife?

   Chul-hee is a cook who loves his wife, Su-hyun, a lot. To celebrate their first wedding anniversary, he hires an event company called CRS, and plans to kidnap Su-hyun and take her to a hotel as a special event. The event was successful and the couple celebrated their anniversary in room 506 with the boss of CRS, Tae-min. However, these surreal moments quickly pass and soon the nightmare begins. The next day, Chul-hee wakes up in a different room and soon learns from Tae-min that he apparently killed his own wife, Su-hyun, while Tae-min went out to buy some more drinks. Therefore, Tae-min has to hide Chul-hee from the police, in room 507. Chul-hee has no memory of the previous night and is left in a state of shock and grief. To make matters worse, there are two more suspicious people, Sul-jung and Min-ji, in the room. Sul-jung is a CEO of the gay bar and Min-ji is a strip dancer who both planned to commit suicide at the hotel. Sul-jung and Min-ji were actually in two different rooms of their own, but woke up to find themselves in room 507 in the morning. Four people with four different characteristics, who meet each other for the first time on that morning, have one thing in common: all of them have no recollection of the previous night. Locked in the room to avoid being the suspect of the murder case, these four people had no choice but to stay in room 507 to catch the murderer. 

   Frankly speaking, the overall plot of the play may look somewhat typical. The setting of the play is the hotel room. Most of the incidents take place in room 507. For physical reasons or contextual reasons, no one can get out of the enclosed space and thus different characters try to figure out cases, suspecting each other. Then why do people enjoy watching *Hangover* so much regardless of the stereotypical aspects of the play?

Disposition of comical elements

   Hangover is not just a thriller but claims to be a comical, mystery thriller. In other words, it not only arouses psychological fear and tension from the audience through its fast paced plot but also provokes great laughter. In fact there are a lot of comical elements. Tae-min blatantly calls himself a sexy guy and Min-ji has a dual character of an innocent girl who adores her doll and a strong woman, who swears and overpowers other men. Sul-jung is perhaps the character who is in charge of the most comical elements in the play. Though he is a lusty man by appearance, he wears girlish pajamas and keeps rambling. When his behaviors are associated with his work, his girlish aspects are emphasized even greater. The best part of his comical actions is when he insists that he has psychic powers and displays his extraordinary ability. Sul-jung is incredibly serious when he explains his supernatural power – which in reality is humorous, because that cannot be true. This part makes the audience laugh as well as contributes to guiding the play back to its original genre, the thriller.

Though the ambience of the play shifts abruptly, it is not disparate but rather plays an important role in making the audience tense again after being relaxed for a while. Besides this particular scene, there are several scenes that work as a bridge between comedy and thriller. For example, in one scene Sul-jung confesses that he once kidnapped a cute child but soon added that he just let go of the child after buying him some snacks. By watching this single play, the audience can enjoy two genres, simultaneously.

Countless reversals and extra tips

   Apart from the cast’s excellent performance and the high engagement created by the sealed setting, the endless reversals of the play are what distinguish this play the most from other plays. A reversal is an integral part of the mystery thriller genre. For Hangover, there are a lot of twists embedded in the process of revealing the truth about Su-hyun’s death. To elaborate more, the first twist may seem somewhat predictable.  As a result, the audience starts to think that they can infer the ending of the play already and thus tend to grow a bit bored. Nevertheless, the audience has to pay close attention as there are many more twists waiting to surprise the audience. The shocking pasts of the four people and the hidden, unexpected relationships between the characters are some of the twists that occur. Finally, only about five minutes prior to ending the last twist is made known to the audience. With the placement of the last twist at the very last scene of the play, the audience cannot help admiring the plot of the play and gain a deep impression even as they leave the theater.

   There is one more important factor that would be convenient if noticed beforehand to the potential viewers. That is, the use of profanity by Min-ji. As aforementioned, though it was used as a dramatic device to describe Min-ji’s character and arouse laughter, it may still sound offensive to some viewers. Besides this point, there is one more hidden reversal about the external traits of this play. Like most of the plays, people are likely to think that this one is also played in Daehak-ro. However contrary to the common belief, Hangover is being performed in Apgujeong-dong, in Yoondang Arthall, a relatively new and clean building.

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Hangover repeats reversals after reversals until the very end and tries to tell the most shocking truth of the play. All the predictions made by the audience are thought to be meaningless by the unexpected truth. Yet, it would be extremely entertaining as the audience faces the complete truth revealed by a sudden twist. During the 90 minutes of running time, the audience is guaranteed to enjoy every single minute of the play. After suffering under the stressful mid-term exam period, Hangover is a great way to relieve your stress through the repetition of tension and relaxation with the flow of the play.

Date; March 03, 2015 ~ May 31, 2015

Price: 25, 000

Place: Yoondang Arthall Theater 2