list.co.uk/festival Korean Season | FESTIVAL FEATURES
Chef: Come Dine with Us
THEY GOT SEOUL
Assembly’s second Korean Season is an impressive revelation of the country’s cultural talents, discovers Yasmin Sulaiman
S hows from South Korea have been coming to the Fringe for years, but this year marks the second outing of an ofi cial Korean Season at Assembly. A showcase of the country’s diverse theatrical talents, 2016’s Korean programme spans dance, magic, music, physical theatre and slapstick comedy, all across i ve energetic shows.
The biggest is Chef, which some eagle-eyed Fringe-goers may recognise as having visited the festival in 2010. This version of the non-verbal performance – which has been a long-running hit in the South Korean capital Seoul – has been revamped, and it’s a lively mish-mash of world class beatboxing, i rst rate breakdancing and zany fun and games. Ideal family entertainment at the Fringe, no matter what language you speak.
Created by veteran Korean director Chul Ki Choi (who’s previously brought Cookin’ and Jump to the Fringe), there is – as the title suggests – a food-theme running through it. Two teams of chefs compete to create the best dishes, with a little help from audience volunteers, and in the i nal round an audience member gets to
decide which team wins by tasting the traditional Korean rice dish bibimbap – the Green Chef’s team or the Red Chef’s.
I was lucky enough to see Chef in Seoul (where it’s called Bibap: Delicious Musical) on a trip organised by the Korean Season team earlier this summer. Speaking to the cast and crew after the show, they insist they’ve never heard of long-running BBC cookery show Ready, Steady, Cook (which also pits a green team against a red one), so the choice of team colours is apparently just a coincidence. Unlike that show, no actual cooking goes down here (though the i nal audience volunteer does get to taste real bibimbap); instead, expect skilfully farcical routines with fake food and kitchen equipment, all soundtracked by two world class beatboxers, and plenty of opportunities to take part in the fun. At one point in the Korean version of the show, the audience gets pelted with pillows of ‘dough’, which you get to gleefully throw back on stage. There’s a strong gaming atmosphere to proceedings too: the two female characters may i rst appear stereotypical (they’re labelled ‘Sexy Chef’ and
4–11 Aug 2016 THE LIST FESTIVAL 29