SYNOPSIS

Tianjin, during the Japanese colonial period. A boy earns a living by carrying passengers on his bicycle. He gives Deok-hyeong a ride to the Chosun Bank, which Deok-hyeong plans to scout before a robbery. While waiting for him, the boy gets into an argument with a Japanese officer. The officer points his gun at the boy. The boy tries to snatch it and is wounded in the arm. Deok-hyeong takes the gun and brings the injured boy to the place where he lives with Ja-gyeong. The boy has no name and does not know his birthday. They name him Mu-hyeok.

Mu-hyeok thinks Ja-gyeong and Deok-hyeong are planning something important. Deok-hyeong tells him about Han-gil, who is now dead. Deok-hyeong and Han-gil steal wallets to raise money. They steal Ja-gyeong’s wallet, and when Ja-gyeong comes to get it back, they say they are raising money for a cause. Ja-gyeong asks which political side they support. Han-gil suggests a world where people do not split into sides but become one. Ja-gyeong takes this to mean anarchism. He writes statements against Japanese rule, but no one will publish them. Ashamed that he has only resisted through writing, he sees his own wish for revolution in Deok-hyeong and Han-gil’s actions. He decides to join them.

Deok-hyeong has Mu-hyeok guard the escape route while he robs the Chosun Bank and takes a large sum of money. Ja-gyeong urges them to go to Shanghai, where the independence forces are based. When they arrive, Ja-gyeong is dressed well, but Deok-hyeong and Mu-hyeok are not. They need suits to meet their contact in the French Concession, so the two men get suits tailored, and the three pack their things. They wait for the contact at cafés, bakeries, and movie theaters. Deok-hyeong and Ja-gyeong learn that Mu-hyeok does not know his birthday. They buy him a cake and choose that day as his birthday. The three value their friendship as much as the cause. Ja-gyeong keeps writing statements. Deok-hyeong believes that people cannot create a world where everyone gets what they want, but he still values the bond among the three.

Ja-gyeong grows anxious and tells the two men to keep visiting places where they think the contact might be. The contact eventually appears, but Deok-hyeong fails to understand the code, and the meeting falls through. Deok-hyeong admits that he has little interest in the independence movement. He blames Ja-gyeong for Han-gil’s death and leaves. Ja-gyeong tells Mu-hyeok that Han-gil and Deok-hyeong used to be pickpockets, and that Han-gil had told him about it. Han-gil was ashamed of his past and pretended to be a man who fought for a cause. He agreed with Ja-gyeong and tried to attack an official, but was shot dead.

Time passes, and they celebrate Mu-hyeok’s birthday again. The three have come to Shanghai almost by chance, but each dreams of a different world. Deok-hyeong asks Mu-hyeok to rob another bank with him. This time, Mu-hyeok carries the gun, and they succeed. Ja-gyeong is angry that Deok-hyeong has drawn Mu-hyeok into danger again. Deok-hyeong replies that bombs are expensive, and they can buy one with the money.

Ja-gyeong goes to a café alone and meets the contact. He learns that a Japanese official will arrive by train. He gives the contact a message for the other two, then leaves with a gun. He is shot dead.

Deok-hyeong and Mu-hyeok hear the news on the radio. Deok-hyeong gets two bombs and plans to use them when the Japanese official boards a ship. Mu-hyeok asks to join him, saying that life has no meaning without the other two. Deok-hyeong gives Mu-hyeok one bomb and tells him a safe route. He detonates his own bomb as the official boards the ship, and is shot dead. Mu-hyeok is left alone.

Many years later, after the atomic bombings and the Potsdam Declaration, Mu-hyeok meets Ja-gyeong’s son in Shanghai. He gives him the papers Ja-gyeong left behind and says his father was a remarkable person. The son thanks him. Mu-hyeok asks for the note at the top of the papers and keeps it. It reads, “Three Winds and One Tree.” He later meets the contact, who gives him Ja-gyeong’s writings and asks whether he will go north or south. Mu-hyeok says he does not know yet. Alone, he remembers Deok-hyeong and Ja-gyeong. The two who once called out “One, two” are gone, but Mu-hyeok calls out, “Three.”


REVIEW

The production was well suited to a mid-size theater. The sound was clear, and the keyboard, drums, and other accompaniment came through well. I watched from the second floor. Since it was a weeknight, there were few people in the upper level, so I had a good view. But the auditorium was very cold. After about an hour, it became harder to bear the cold than to focus on the show.

JINHO, who played Mu-hyeok, opened with a song in which he compares himself to a stone. I was used to hearing his high falsetto and pop-style singing, so his steady mid-range baritone came as a surprise. His tone was warm, and his voice was very steady. The score used the middle range often. Ja-gyeong handled most of the rock-style passages, which added color to the music. The songs were good. I enjoyed hearing JINHO’s baritone, Kim Do-bin’s rock vocals, and the baritone range of both Kim Do-bin and Kim Jae-han. Many shows struggle to keep the middle range steady and full, so this was a pleasure to hear.

Although Ja-gyeong was billed second, he carried the show's main theme. He named the group anarchists, defined their cause as Korean independence, and planned the bank robbery. Ja-gyeong reads his statement from a distance to draw the police away while Deok-hyeong robs the bank. Ja-gyeong also leads the move to Shanghai, the meetings with their contact, and the turn to armed resistance. He seems to feel a debt to his time, ashamed that he has fought only with words. Deok-hyeong and Han-gil’s pickpocketing becomes the trigger that moves him to act. Later, we learn that Ja-gyeong is not his real name and that he has a family, including a son. Leaving for Shanghai must have been a major decision for him. His neat suit from the start also suggests that he comes from a wealthy, educated background.

Deok-hyeong teaches Han-gil how to pickpocket, and later teaches Mu-hyeok as well. He steals to make a living. He would like a world where people can get what they want, but he doubts that people can make such a world. He plans the route for the bank robbery, yet does not follow it himself. After one successful robbery, he tries again in Shanghai. This seems more like a way to make money than an act tied to the independence movement.

Mu-hyeok’s story begins and ends with a bicycle. At first, it is an old bicycle that supports his livelihood. At the end, it is a new one given to him as Ja-gyeong’s last wish. His world changes completely between the two. Through Ja-gyeong and Deok-hyeong, and what happens to them, Mu-hyeok begins to see the society around him differently.

The plot was well structured. Its twists and the friendship among the three men showed what ordinary people might have wanted from a stable life at the time. Through Ja-gyeong, the show also portrayed the despair and helplessness of the intellectual class. In the political climate of the story, Ja-gyeong’s sacrifice sets off a chain of awakening and sacrifice. Deok-hyeong’s final choice reminded me of Grantaire’s last act in Les Misérables.

Resistance was bound to arise under colonial rule. Some people resisted actively. For others, making a living may have mattered more until something pushed them to act. The show follows three men who meet as if by fate during a time of upheaval. They have different aims, but come to understand one another.

The title Anarchist did not seem closely tied to the story. I expected to see the anarchist movement represented by figures such as Park Yeol or Shin Chae-ho, but anarchism goes no further than the name Ja-gyeong gives the group. Han-gil’s idea of a world where people become one can be read as anarchist, but the focus remains on Ja-gyeong’s independence movement and Deok-hyeong’s vague ideal. This left some distance between the title and the content.

The show had bits of humor throughout. The humor worked well enough. The tailor-shop scene had a number that felt like fan service, and there were also some puns. Still, I thought the middle section could be shorter. The show ran for 120 minutes without an intermission, and some parts felt slow. The cold auditorium made that harder to bear. For a three-person show, cutting about 10 percent of the running time might make it tighter.

The strong nationalist themes suggest that the producers may have had countries that experienced Japanese colonial rule in mind as overseas markets. But the central story—the friendship among three men with different aims—could work in another period of upheaval, even outside the story of Korean independence. The 2026 production also has an all-female cast for the three roles as part of its gender-free casting.