Review- Nanta- The Venetian
9-2-15
By: Meaghan McGurgan
Nanta is the longest running show in Korea. It’s a physical theatre show based around a high energy kitchen and the idea of cooking. It combines a lot of things that an Asian audience love: comedy, food, fire and high power acrobatics. It has been staged in 278 cities in 42 countries, transcending linguistic and cultural barriers.
How does a show run this long and successfully without hitting the UK or the US or being copied? I don’t think it can be. Many other places have physical theatre shows. Hong Kong has Detention, the UK has Stomp, the US has Blast, they’re all unique to their home countries and Nanta is very, very Korean in its story telling and presentation style.
Much like the addictive dramas of its homeland, Nanta presents a wide variety of emotions in a short space of time. It’s fun and fluffy and doesn’t require a large amount of intellectual dedication from its audience members. Nanta is a show that's fun and entertaining, simple as that. Sometimes we go to the theatre just to be entertained. Nanta won’t win any awards for shaking us to our cores or making political statements but it packs houses on a nightly basis.
It is a perfect fit for the Venetian crowd who are simply wanting to escape, although at times the stage arrangement left things to be desired. The way they had arranged the furniture for the tour left many audience members with partial views. If they had placed the stoves at angles rather than straight on, we would have had a better view of the action.
The performers are extremely talented: they sing, dance, and make music with sharp knives. Their comic timing and percussion is spot on. They have great stage presence. As a warning to my normally shy HK audience, much participation is required, which makes the production a lot of fun. If you’re sitting in the front seats you’re more than likely to get pulled on stage for a bit of play. Don’t resist - just relax and have fun!
Nanta is playing at the Venetian through March 22nd, Tuesdays through Sundays. Tickets start at 280HKD. For more information click here.
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