Instead of Dokbae, give me beets YO!…rapper ‘Tess’ hyung

399 years before the common era, the 70-year-old philosopher Socrates stood trial in Athens. Accused of disbelieving in the city's revered gods and corrupting the youth, the jury found him guilty and he accepted his fate of drinking hemlock. Socrates' death, refusing to cease questioning, remains a historical paradox illustrating how democracy can suppress free individual thought.

The musical "Socrates Paradox" brings this heavy trial back to life with rap and hip-hop language. Opening last month at Seoul's Nol Seong Square Square 1 Theater, the work transforms Socrates (Jin-min, Kim Do-bin, Jo-fung-rae, Moon-kyu Cho) and the young poet Melites (Cheo-hyuk, Min-sun, I-jong-seok, Jun-won) into a rap battle.

As if calling from an ancient temple, the mic waits at the front, with arguments in rhymes and rebuttals in beats. The poet Melites calls Socrates a "bigot," while Socrates responds that "I know what I do not know, a true poet recognized by the gods." The political turmoil between the defeat of the Peloponnesian War and the fear of the Thirty Tyrants provides a backdrop too complex to summarize through the charges alone.

The play chooses to compress this intricate context into the conflict between the two figures, emphasizing the speed of debate and the musical pleasure. As spectators become participants labeled "jurors" at the side of the stage, the monitor displays song lyrics, and the actors naturally break into spontaneous chants. The chorus (Kim Gi-young, Kwon O-deuk, Park Hwi-tae, Ba-hye Jin, Yi Ye-nah) feeds the energy of the duel between the two figures, blurring the boundary between stage and audience.

The non-stop rap may sometimes strain to keep up with the lyrics, but the monitor serves as a guide to the context of the debate. The combination of philosophy and participatory performance is unusual, yet the work embraces this oddity as its vitality. The key takeaway is what Socrates says just before drinking hemlock: "It is easy to avoid death.

The difficult thing is to avoid evil." This statement, echoed in Plato's "Apology," condenses his choice to die rather than compromise his beliefs. Leaving the stage for just over 20 minutes, the curtain call invigorates the audience with cheers and songs, transforming the theater into a K-pop concert. As they leave the performance, the audience becomes equals with the actors, declaring the event fun.

The lively musical skillfully brings ancient philosophical questions and heavy inquiries into today's younger generation, creating a dynamic and captivating performance. It runs until November 29th.