On a stage taut with tension, as swordsmen prowl on guard as if a fight could break out at any moment, an old monk begins to explain the piece.

“Far, far in the future, prisons overflow with violent offenders and anarchists, and a state of uncontainability is declared. The police government erects an 80-meter-high wall and builds a vast camp of 470,000 pyeong at a secret location. The so-called Serengeti Bay! (omitted) This story is about their descendants” With this kindly background exposition comes, “An award winner at the Dong-A Theater Awards 16 years ago!” a burst of ‘self-promotion’ fit for ad copy, and the auditorium becomes a sea of laughter in an instant. “Just wing it and slash!” With a rough bellow, pounding heavy metal blares, and the tale of the swordsmen of Serengeti Bay begins.

Opening on the 27th of last month at Haneul Theater of the National Theater in Jangchung-dong, Seoul, the play <Kallo Makbes> catches the audience off guard from the outset. Effortless bursts of humor instantly collapse the tension in the seats, and viewers are drawn into its roughly 110-minute span.

<Kallo Makbes> is a reinterpretation of Macbeth, one of the four great tragedies by Shakespeare. Directed by Go Seon-ung and premiered in 2010, the piece created a stir by winning both Best Production and Best Director at the Dong-A Theater Awards the following year after just a three-day run. Marking the 20th anniversary of Geukgongjakso Mabangjin this year, it has returned to the stage after 16 years.

If the original is a tragedy set in medieval Scotland portraying the downfall of the general Macbeth consumed by the lust for power, <Kallo Makbes> relocates the tale to a wholly different world. On the dystopian future stage of ‘Serengeti Bay’, where incorrigible villains and reactionary lineages vie for power instead of kings and nobles, it follows Makbes, head of the Western District trusted by the boss, as he is swept up by the prophecy of a blind seer and the ambition of his wife into a consuming desire to seize power. The setting is different, but the backbone of the story, the human hunger for power and the ruin that desire brings, remains the same. Layered with martial-arts action, an East Asian sensibility, and humor, it transforms into a mischievous action romp.

Befitting the label ‘martial-arts action play’, the stage brims from start to finish with fierce energy, blades flashing and bodies clashing. Kim Ho-san, who again plays the lead ‘Makbes’ following the premiere, holds a combined 10 dan ranks in martial arts including kendo and taekkyeon. With nothing but their bodies and a single wooden sword, the actors duel without letup, racing unwearied through a merciless world of power.

Director Go Seon-ung’s signature playful lines and wordplay are indispensable delights. The title itself is already a joke. It is ‘Makbes who cuts with a blade’, hence ‘Kallo Makbes’. Puns like “Kal isseuma” and “Maksswasseu” pop up repeatedly, and when a character bad-mouths Makbes to the audience and is then struck by a sword, he collapses muttering, “It was an aside…” The shameless, absurd laughter this provokes relaxes the weight of the tragedy, letting the audience enjoy a blood-soaked slaughter play without strain.

The acting of pansori singer Kim Jun-su, taking on his first theater stage, is also worth close attention. Formerly of the National Changgeuk Company, he plays the role of ‘Wife of Makbes’ (Lady Macbeth in the original), becoming an avatar of desire who goads her husband Makbes toward ruin. Renowned as a ‘headliner’ at the National Changgeuk Company, his prowess is fully displayed on the drama stage as well. Moving among coquetry, rage, and greed as he descends into madness, his femme fatale portrayal is striking enough to bewitch viewers at once.

This strange caper unfurling in a desolate lawless zone reflects the human nature that wavers before power and desire across eras and spaces. That is why a bitter aftertaste lingers after the relentless rush of action and laughter. Unaware that they are racing toward the terminus of ruin, human folly is brisk and full of swagger. That is why it is both funny and sad.

<Kallo Makbes> runs at Haneul Theater of the National Theater through the 15th, then moves to the Middle Theater at Busan Cultural Center on the 3-4 of next month and to the Ensemble Theater at Seongnam Arts Center on the 10-11.