Chaos in the kitchen

South Korea’s hit stage show “Nanta”, packed with percussion and laughs, has been booked for Bangkok for three whole years – easily its longest run outside the homeland.
 The show debuted in September at its own theatre on Ratchadamri Road, then got shut down by the flooding, and is ready to restart next Thursday.
“‘Nanta’ has built a reputation around the world,” says NIB chief Kyutae Paik, who’s cornered the local franchise, “but I want Thais to fully comprehend what the show is really all about, and that’s why it’s set to be here for a long time.”
“Nanta” – the name refers to wild drumming – debuted in Seoul in 1997. None of the performers speak, communicating instead with the traditional instruments of the samul nori, a percussion quartet.
There’s the kwoenggwari, which is a small gong, the janggu doubleheaded drum, a buk drum and the large jing gong. They also use anything else that’s handy.
The samul nori has its roots in nong-ak, the “farmer’s music” heard on the rice plantations, which serves to both ensure and celebrate good harvests.
“Nanta” features three spicy cooks – Head Chef, Sexy Guy and Hot Sauce – who have to prepare a wedding banquet and don’t appreciate their boss inflicting his incompetent nephew on them when they’re so busy.
The stage is set for hilarity (and flashes of “cutting” drama), and the chefs proceed to use every kitchen utensil – pots, pans, dishes, knives, chopping boards, water bottles and brooms – as a percussion instrument. At the same time they leap about acrobatically, do a few magic tricks, put on some pantomime – and get the audience involved.
“There are two scenes in ‘Nanta’ related to samul nori,” Paik points out.
“The first is the prologue, which takes the audience back to olden times and a Korean kitchen before there was electricity or tap water. The second is a folk dance called the sangmo, in which the performer puts on a helmet-like hat with a long ribbon, also called a sangmo, and swings his head around forcefully.”
Paik says South Korea’s most celebrated samul nori performer, Kim Dok-Soo, was invited by US officials to perform at the United Nations in New York.
“The audience participation in the Korean wedding ceremony is another great scene,” Paik says, “as is the kung fu scene between Sexy Guy and Nephew. There was no kung fu in the show originally. It was added for the Chinese production.
“Personally I love Head Chef’s one-man show with the bucket, with his ridiculous facial expressions. I laugh every time I see it.”
Along with Kim Dok-Soo’s turn at the UN, “Nanta” itself has done well internationally. It was an audience favourite at the 1999 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and in 2004 it became the first Asian show to have an extended off-Broadway run.
The big ambition is to get it on Broadway, of course, but in the meantime the Korean Tourism Organisation has designated “Nanta” one of the “Top 10 Things to See in Seoul”. Three different theatres have productions there, and there’s another one on the resort island of Jeju.
“There are long queues, both tourists and locals, for four shows a day,” Paik says. “That’s 16 shows a day at the four theatres. And there are normally nine teams providing the five performers for each show.”
Paik says performances in other countries are customised to the local culture, just as kung fu was added to amuse the Chinese.
“Usually it involves some local vegetables, like cucumbers or cabbages. But the real appeal of the show is the twists in the presentation, like the moods that swing from calm to crazy.”
“If ‘Nanta’ is successful in Bangkok,” he adds, “I plan to have it in Pattaya too.”
 The spicy cooks and their favourite scenes
 KIM GON-HO, HEAD CHEF

“My favourite scene is the prologue in the dark. It tells everyone that something is about to happen. It flows and you can feel the rhythm. I overheard a child asking his mum what was going on and she said we were preparing food. Actually, no one knows what’s going on exactly, because it’s set in ancient times.”
 

SHIN SEUNG-HAK, NEPHEW

“I like the prologue scene best, too. It builds expectations for what’s to come. I want the audience to be really curious.”

WOO YOUNG-MIN, MANAGER

“I enjoy the last scene, the climax, where everybody is beating drums and the audience can feel the heat.”

OH TAE-HYUK, SEXY GUY

“I love the sangmo dance. Korean people have been doing this after the rice is harvested for a long time.”

SONG HA-MI, HOT SAUCE

“The prologue is my favourite as well because it has the Korean-style rhythm that we create together, building up harmony with the music.”

NOW SERVING
“Nanta” is performed at 7.30 nightly except Monday at the Nanta Theatre in the former EGV Metropolis cineplex atop the Big C Ratchadamri, opposite CentralWorld.
Seats cost Bt1,000 to Bt1,900. Call (02) 262 3456 or see www.ThaiTicketMajor.com.