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Cookin's up a Storm
The internationally acclaimed Korean show "Nanta" raises cooking to an art form

An elaborate drumming performance with chopping boards, a wild chase to catch a fly, intense rhythmic clapping, a dance with bottles and a dynamic performance to close. The Korean hit stage show Nanta 2000 incorporates all of the above to produce a remarkably entertaining spectacle that showcases traditional Korean culture, humor, and drama in a single performance.

"Nanta" figuratively means reckless punching. Set within the context of a huge kitchen, the show "Nanta" is a non-verbal performance of reckless rhythms that integrates uniquely Korean traditional tempos with a western performance style in a strikingly comedic stage show.

Known internationally as "Cookin'," Nanta is a theatrical production staged by PMC Production Company. The company was established in 1992 as Whan Performance Company, and later changed its name in 1996 to PMC. The company staged the musicals, "You Can't Take it With You" and "Whale Hunt," in its early years, both of which were well received by audiences within and outside of theatrical circles. PMC subsequently broadened its focus to include the planning and production of performance, music, and drama and has since promoted only Korean performances of the highest quality.

Nanta is presented in the style of a concert, in which instrumentation and drama are harmonized flawlessly. PMC holds the view that this aspect of the production makes it at once distinctively Korean and universally appealing. It is characterized by the widely variant rhythms of "samulnori," the simultaneous playing of four traditional Korean percussion instruments - a barrel drum, hourglass drum, large gong and small gong - and the wild gyrations of nongak, the lively Farmers's Dance from the Chindo area of Korea. These traditional elements form the core of the show and are well  utilized to give Nanta its distinctive quality. The main actors of the show dazzle audiences with their virtuosity as they pound out traditional rhythms in inventive style, amply illustrating the primitive, explosive power that typifies samulnori.

This show is intended to entertain, and does so with gusto. It is an amalgamation of traditional Korean theater, cooking, and comedy, all of which it portrays with unmistakable flair and style. It begins with a performance in the energetic samulnori style, and then the fun really begins. The personal interaction of the characters, plus the effortless incorporation of the story line and the musical aspects of the performance all serve to generate a brilliant form of high comedy that is Chaplinesque in character.

The story is a fairly simple one, with four outrageous cooks and a demanding maitre d' that have only a single hour to prepare a major wedding banquet within a strict time limit. The situational comedy and musical performance are both rooted in Korean culture, with the cooks using all kinds of kitchen items - pots, pans, dishes, knives, chopping board, water bottles, even brooms and each other- as percussion instruments in an improvisational manner to play percussive samulnori rhythms.

There is a breathless sense of crisis and comedy as the magisterial maitre d' tries to keep the preparations on schedule while the cooks continuously loose focus, breaking into periods of percussive pandemonium. Going back and forth from cooking to pounding out their rhythmic cadences, from cheerful banter to playful animosity, the kitchen crew creates visual humor and aural fun that irresistibly entice the audience to participate. As they complete the best dishes of the day, the performance culminates in a feast that is shared with the audience to both highlight and celebrate the communal bond created by traditional samulnori performance.

Nanta, or "Cookin' 2000," is the first non-verbal performance to come out of Korea. It was conceived and first staged in the mid-1990s when this type of performance first was came into vogue, under the principle "what is most Korean is also the most cosmopolitan." PMC eventually parlayed its domestic success into an international sensation.

After numerous performances of Nanta in Korea, in 1997, the international performance promoter, Broadway Asia Company proposed an official partnership with PMC. The first project was to stage the show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, a display of drama, and various kinds of performance art from around the world. It was at the festival in August of 1999 that Nanta made its overseas debut. The result was a complete sell-out for the entire month of the festival, with many local critics acclaiming the show with "five-star" reviews." A deluge of invitations from around the world followed: Disney World in Orlando, Tokyo and Osaka, Taipei, London, Munich, Vienna, Galway, Inverness, and the Netherlands.

The success of the show at the Edinburgh Festival was not due to coincidence or luck. From the beginning, Nanta was intended to reach out to people from all cultural backgrounds in the spirit of pure enjoyment. The planning and production of the show have always been pursued with this objective in mind and the result has been that Nanta has been received enthusiastically wherever it has been staged. As of going to press, the show is the midst of the world tour that will include Europe, Southeast Asia and North America. In Seoul, meanwhile, the Nanta Theater opened July 1st 2000 to present performances of the show year round. Nanta has been selected as one of the "Top 10 Tourist Attractions in Seoul" by the Korea National Tourism Organization and will be internationally well-publicized during the upcoming "Visit Korea Year 2001" and the 2002 FIFA World Cup to be jointly hosted by Korea and Japan.

Nanta is not truly representational of traditional Korean culture. It instead draws on traditional forms and adapts them to a modern setting for today's audience. This results in a genre that is altogether unique since it cannot easily be classified according to existing nomenclature. It is part comedy, part drama, and part performance - all the while drawing on several traditional Korean performance methods that, although are not exactly true to form, are clearly derived from Korean tradition. The producers now look to the show as a benchmark to improve the standard of Korean performance art, stimulate the creation of new Korean art forms, and ultimately promote global cultural exchange.

Updated January  3rd 2001, By Charles Duerden ( cad@kotra.or.kr )