South Korea's mime musical Nanta, which will be staged at Tianqiao Theatre from May 5 to 8, combines traditional Korean percussion music with Broadway entertainment.

Nanta, in Korean, translated means punching in a boxing match. But the show is performed not in a boxing ring but in a huge "kitchen."

The show's creator, Song Cheung-Whan, has for a long time had a dream of putting together a Korean theatrical extravaganza. "Something mainstream, yet something so different, it could play London's West End and New York's Broadway," he said.

Song saw the British percussion show Stomp in 1995 and immediately connected with its infectious beat and its nontraditional instruments that create a cacophonous but catching score. "It set me to thinking of how we might do something similar."

He settled on Samulnori music, which is a traditional percussion performance featuring four instruments and has been popular for hundreds of years in the Korean countryside. The farmers usually played this kind of music in the fields for a break from the heavy farm work.

Eventually he hit on the idea of doing the Samulnori in the kitchen, which is a very familiar part of people's daily lives.

The typical instruments used in Samulnori have been replaced with a variety of common kitchen utensils and equipment.

It is a show that escapes the language barrier. Audiences of all ages and nationalities can easily enjoy both the music and the story.

Rhythm rules the theatre and audiences are thrilled by the primitive explosion of sound and the action on stage.

The plot involves three crazy chefs and a mischievous assistant who are assigned to cook a major wedding banquet within a strict time limit.

There is a breathless sense of crisis and comedy as the master of the kitchen tries to keep the cooking on schedule while the cooks repeatedly lose focus, breaking into periods of percussive pandemonium.

The four versatile performers turn all kinds of kitchen items pots, pans, dishes, knives, chopping boards, water bottles and even brooms into percussion instruments. And cucumbers, cabbages and onions fly in the air.

Going back and forth from cooking to pounding out their rhythmic cadences, from cheerful banter to playful animosity, the kitchen crew creates visual humour and aural fun that irresistibly entice the audience to participate.

As they complete the best dishes of the day, several members of the audience are invited on stage to taste their creations.

Since its acclaimed premiere in Seoul in 1997, Nanta has played to 90 cities in 15 countries. The Guardian hailed it as a "high energy experience with infectious rhythms."

"Since we participated in the Edinburgh Festival, where we sold out performances for a month, we have become a smash, returning there two years in a row," said B.I. Kim, company manager and press agent for the ensemble.

"Our show has people leaving very happy. The 90-minute show whisks by so quickly you're surprised when it is suddenly over. It doesn't matter where in the world they watch it. Everybody understands food," says Kim.

(China Daily April 22, 2004)