After 9 Years Away, Choi Su-jong Returns to the Stage as Oedipus

Choi Su-jong has been called the ratings king more times than he can probably count. It is the kind of nickname that follows an actor who has spent decades at the center of some of South Korea's most-watched dramas — historical epics, period pieces, the kind of productions that drew the whole country to its television screens. What he has not done in roughly nine years is take the stage in a theater. That changes this summer.

Producer (Su) Company confirmed on Monday that Choi Su-jong will appear in Oedipus, opening July 4 at Sejong Cultural Center's M Theater in Seoul. He will play the title role — Oedipus, King of Thebes, the figure at the center of one of antiquity's most enduring tragedies. The run continues through August 23.

Nine Years Since His Last Stage

The last time Choi Su-jong performed in a theater production was 2017, when he appeared in The Story of the Fairy Who Could Not Reach the Sky. Before that, his stage work was part of a longer career that has spent most of its energy on screen. His return to theater in 2017 was notable at the time, and his return now — after another extended gap — carries the same quality of surprise.

Oedipus is not an easy debut back. The role is one of the most psychologically demanding in all of classical drama, a character defined by the gap between what he believes he knows and what turns out to be true. In Sophocles' original telling, Oedipus has already unknowingly killed his father and married his mother before the play begins. The drama is about the moment he discovers it — and what that knowledge does to a man who has spent his life believing he was on the right side of fate.

Production company (Su) Company described their approach in direct terms: "This Oedipus will be a work that simultaneously pushes forward the density of the classic and contemporary sensibility. We will present a stage that maintains the depth of the classic while reaching today's audiences more intuitively." Director Seo Jae-hyeong and writer-adapter Han A-reum are handling the staging and adaptation.

A Strong Cast Around Him

Choi Su-jong is double-cast in the lead role alongside Yang Joon-mo, a stage performer known for his intense physical energy and emotional depth in musical productions. The two actors will bring different readings to Oedipus across separate performances, giving audiences who attend multiple times a distinct experience each time.

Jocasta, the queen whose identity and relationship to Oedipus forms the heart of the tragedy, will be played by Seo Young-hee and Im Gang-hee in the same double-cast arrangement. The chorus leader, a pivotal figure who drives the play's rhythm and commentary, will be portrayed by Im Byeong-geun and Lee Hyeong-hun. Tiresias, the blind prophet, and the Corinthian Messenger — both crucial to the mechanism by which the truth is revealed — are cast with Park Jeong-ja and Nam Myeong-ryeol in one pairing, with Oh Chan-woo and Na Ja-myeong in the other.

Creon, Oedipus's brother-in-law and the figure who becomes his successor, will be played by Kang Seong-jin and Choi Su-hyeong. The full ensemble suggests a production that takes its source material seriously and has assembled an experienced cast to deliver it.

The Story the Play Is Telling

For audiences unfamiliar with Sophocles, Oedipus Rex is the ancient Greek play that gave Freud his most famous concept — the Oedipus complex — and has been performed, analyzed, adapted, and debated for roughly 2,500 years. The play is set in Thebes, a city afflicted by plague. Its king, Oedipus, sets out to discover the cause of the plague and ends up uncovering the truth about his own origin: that he was abandoned as an infant to prevent a prophecy from being fulfilled, that the prophecy was fulfilled anyway, and that the king he killed on the road years ago was his father.

What makes the play remarkable is not the plot, which was already known to its original audiences, but what Sophocles does with dramatic irony. The audience watches Oedipus move steadily toward a truth that everyone except him already suspects, driven by his own determination to know. The tragedy is self-inflicted in a specific sense: Oedipus could stop asking questions. He does not.

The (Su) Company production is positioning this as a work about human fate, truth, and the irony of choice — themes that translate across cultural contexts and have kept the play in repertory around the world continuously since antiquity.

Choi Su-jong and the Theater Stage

For South Korean audiences, Choi Su-jong is primarily a television actor. His career has been built on dramas, particularly historical ones, and his nickname — the ratings king — reflects a record of appearing in productions that attracted large audiences. Over decades, he has played a wide range of figures from Korean history, accumulating the kind of institutional trust that comes from consistent work in demanding roles.

That background makes him an interesting choice for Oedipus. The role requires an actor capable of conveying authority and then unraveling it in real time, in front of a live audience without the safety net of multiple takes or post-production adjustments. Theater demands a different kind of preparation and a different relationship with the material than screen work, and Choi Su-jong's willingness to return to that format after nine years indicates something about his interest in the challenge.

He is married to actress Ha Hee-ra, who has her own considerable following and whose stage and screen career has unfolded alongside his. The couple are among the most recognized long-term celebrity partnerships in Korean entertainment, having been together since 1993.

What to Expect This Summer

The production opens July 4 and runs through August 23 at Sejong Cultural Center's M Theater in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Ticket sales are scheduled to begin May 20 through Nolticket and the Sejong Cultural Center website.

The announcement comes at a moment when theater attendance in Korea has recovered steadily from a difficult few years. Prestige productions with recognizable casts have driven audiences back to the stage, and a double-billed Oedipus featuring Choi Su-jong's first theater appearance since 2017 is precisely the kind of event that generates advance attention.

Whether the production delivers on the weight of the material and the expectations attached to Choi Su-jong's name is a question that will be answered in July. What is certain now is that one of Korea's best-known drama actors has chosen to spend his summer in one of Western drama's most demanding roles — and that fans of both the actor and the theater have reason to pay attention to the M Theater calendar this summer.