‘The Foursome’ brings friendship to the fore

Growing up and losing touch with people you were once close to is par for the course for many, but one group of expats is seeking to explore the value of old friendships with a performance of Norm Foster’s “The Foursome” in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province.

The play follows four old friends around an 18-hole golf course, with a scene at each tee and one at the clubhouse. Having not seen each other for a long time, the four each come with their own problems ―- from alcoholism to ennui ―- and by the time they reach the clubhouse, they struggle to relate to each other.

“It takes that long for them to realize that maybe it’s not even worth it. Maybe your old friends should remain your old friends and shouldn’t be trying,” said the play’s director, Sunil Mahtani, although he indicated the play did offer a glimmer of hope at the end.

Mahtani, on his third play in Korea, said that comedies were always good for attracting an audience. Having directed the play with a professional cast in Canada, he thought this would be a good choice for him to direct in Korea. But while it is a laugh-a-minute comedy, he said that the play still carried some emotional weight.

“I don‘t necessarily like out-and-out farces that have no poignancy to them, but I do like poignant comedies. I feel you can really get across some nice emotional punches when you are having the drama interspersed with comedy.”

This relates to the experience of being far from home in some ways. Mahtani said that he still had strong attachments to his friends back home in Canada.

“But really during the year we don’t send many messages to each other, we don’t call each other very much and I think we all have interesting busy lives and there is the whole out of sight out of mind going on.

“So I can relate, because I feel that I want to keep my closest friends close, and that’s not always easy when you’re worlds apart and you’re busy and everybody’s caught up in their own jobs.”

Having seen healthy audience numbers for “Lend Me a Tenor,” and even a significant number of Koreans in the crowd earlier this year, he was optimistic that a small theater community was developing in the city.

“It just seems there is this whole great energy generated behind doing live theater and we are doing really well audience-wise too. People miss live theater in their home countries and I think they are happy that someone is doing it here,” he said

Although there is no formal group, Mahtani plans to run another play next June.

“The Foursome” runs at Changwon Sports Stadium’s Art Theater on Nov. 23, 24 and 30 and on Dec. 1. Saturday shows are at 8 p.m. and Sunday performances start at 4 p.m. Tickets are 10,000 won and details of payment and directions can be found on the Facebook event pages for “The Foursome.”

By Paul Kerry (paulkerry@heraldcorp.com)