''Nanta'' (, also known as ''Cookin'' or ''Cookin' Nanta'') is a South Korean non-verbal comedy show created and produced by

Song Seung-whan A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetition ...

and incorporates traditional

samul nori Samul nori (사물놀이) is a genre of percussion music that originated in Korea. The word ''samul'' means "four objects", while ''nori'' means "play". Samul nori is performed with four traditional Korean musical instruments. They are ''Kkwaenggw ...

rhythm. It premiered in October 1997 in Hoam Art Hall in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

Features

The musical has a simple back story of three cooks attempting to finish preparing a wedding banquet within a strict time limit while the manager installs his incompetent nephew among the kitchen staff. The show involves

acrobatics Acrobatics () is the performance of human feats of balance, agility, and motor coordination. Acrobatic skills are used in performing arts, sporting events, and martial arts. Extensive use of acrobatic skills are most often performed in acro ...

, magic tricks, comedy,

pantomime Pantomime (; informally panto) is a type of musical comedy stage production designed for family entertainment. It was developed in England and is performed throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland and (to a lesser extent) in other English-speaking ...

and audience participation. The unifying element throughout the musical is the use of traditional Korean

music, which in this case is performed with improvised instruments, such as cutting boards, water canisters and kitchen knives. The performance is almost completely non-verbal. The very few words which are spoken are mostly in English.��打, Nanta>

Popularity

''Nanta'' is the longest-running show in Korean history. In Korea, it has two private theaters in

(

Myeong-dong Myeongdong () is a dong in Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea between Chungmu-ro, Eulji-ro, and Namdaemun-ro. It covers 0.99km² with a population of 3,409 and is mostly a commercial area, being one of Seoul's main shopping, parade route and tourism ...

, Hongdae), one on the island of

Jeju Jeju may refer to: * Jeju Island (Jejudo), an island near South Korea * Jeju Province (formerly transliterated Cheju), a province of South Korea comprising Jejudo **Jeju City, the biggest city on Jejudo **Jeju dog, a dog native to Jejudo ** Jeju l ...

, the other in

Bangkok Bangkok, officially known in Thai language, Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon and colloquially as Krung Thep, is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. The city occupies in the Chao Phraya River delta in central Thailand and has an estima ...

, Thailand. The musical made its international debut at the

1999 Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

, where it received an award for best performance. Since then it has been staged in 57 countries around the world. ''Nanta'' opened

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 2004 and ended its run in August 2005. In March 2017,

Hotel Nanta A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

opened in Jeju island.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Nanta Website''Nanta'': Official Seoul City TourismNanta Facebook
Percussion music Instrumental music Works about chefs Works about cooking Works about wedding Performing arts in South Korea 1997 works South Korean comedy Nonverbal communication

Features

Popularity

See also

References

External links