The Fringe website isn’t so searchable this year but so far I’ve managed to find three Korean groups performing – all available to be watched on demand. For me the highlight will be the return of dancer Sun-hoo Yoo with her production After4. We found the performance in 2017 one of the best things we’ve ever experienced at the Fringe. It has gone through some revisions since then, and for its online presentation it will be enhanced with animation videos.
Also returning is Ensemble SU, Cho-In Theatre (with their excellent adaptation of Kim Kyung-Uk’s short story Spray) and new to the Fringe is an LGBT+ extravaganza from 13 Fruitcakes. Finally, Modern Table’s Kim Jae-duk collaborates with another choreographer on a piece from Singapore.
Don’t miss it!
All performances are watchable online from 6 August. Afraid I can’t figure out from the website how long they’ll be online for. My guess is until the end of the month.
13 Fruitcakes
(Musical theatre, lgbt)
Watch onDemand (available from 6 August) | Tickets
1 hour 25 minutes
Suitability: 12+ (Guideline)
Group: Singing Actors Repertory Company | Korean Season presented by AtoBizA dazzling multimedia extravaganza depicting the story of mysterious drag queen, Orlando, who inspires people to start fighting against oppression by telling the story of historical gay figures, highlighting 13 noteworthy LGBTQ+ figures and their historical impact, from Da Vinci to Eleanor Roosevelt. Performed by a cast of Korean actors, including ‘More’ Zimin, the most prominent drag performer in Korea. 13 Fruitcakes is directed by Byungkoo Ahn, comprising of 13 musical vignettes, with beautiful original songs composed by Gihieh Lee, lyrics by Lorca, Wilde, Whitman and other queer poets, and electronic music by Los Angeles Laptop Collective.
Links After4
(Dance)
Watch onDemand (available from 6 August) | Tickets
1 hour
Suitability: 8+
Group: HOO Korean Dance Company | Korean Season presented by AtoBizThe beautiful journey of an 80-year-old woman. Beautiful Korean dancing, with surreal and living music. The 80-year-old woman who appears in the piece will cross the Black River, the invisible river, the Mirror River, and the Horn River in her dream to meet four characters and travel around the world of her dream. The old woman who has unfolded all the stories of her life in dance is reincarnated with flowers and blooms in this world. ‘Exquisite beauty, dance, and music perfectly melded’ **** (Broadway Baby). ‘A spectacle that’s poetic and sensitive’ **** (SeeingDance.com).
Links Ensemble Su
(World Music)
Watch onDemand (available from 6 August) | Tickets
55 minutes
Suitability: 0+
Group: Ensemble SU | Korean Season presented by AtoBiz Ltd.Discover this blend of Korean traditional instruments and western instruments that will bring music to life. Ensemble Su’s quintet breaks international boundaries and makes music come to life on stage. The musical storytellers bring you on a journey through time and space as they entertain you with a classical and modern collage of music. ‘Ensemble Su’s concert was simply magical, professionally staged, polished, sophisticated, refreshing, and genuinely imaginative with finely crafted arrangements and compositions that explored the possibilities of mixing the old with the new with grand success’ ***** (Wisconsin Public Radio).
Links Spray
Theatre (physical theatre, drama)
Watch onDemand (available from 6 August) | Tickets
1 hour 15 minutes
Suitability: 12+ (Guideline)
Group: Cho In Theatre Company (Korea)Darkly-comedic Korean social satire with innovative staging and colourful physicality. Exhausted by his job and his noisy neighbour keeping him up at night, the man in apartment 709 picks up a parcel for 109 by mistake. This wakens a thrill and he begins to steal other parcels intentionally. He takes one of his neighbour’s parcels, wanting to get revenge for her inconsiderate behaviour. But inside the box is the body of the neighbour’s cat… 2019 Asian Arts Awards: Best Technical Production and Best Direction. From Korean Theatre Directors’ Association 2018 Director of the Year, Cheong-euy Park.
Links Pán
Dance, Physical Theatre and Circus (contemporary, dance)
Watch onDemand (available from 6 August) | Tickets
1 hour 30 minutes
Suitability: 8+
Group: T.H.E Dance Company (Singapore)Inspired by the allegorical Chinese myth of Pangu, and choreographed by Kuik Swee Boon (Singapore) and Kim Jae Duk (Korea), this contemporary dance piece presents the idea of transculturation as a convergence of cultures across geographical, historical, social and physical boundaries. Created in collaboration with award-winning Taiwanese musician Wang Yu-jun, the performance is hosted and co-performed by two disabled artists Wheelsmith (Danial Bawthan) and Tung Ka Wai. Produced by T.H.E Dance Company and commissioned by Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre, the full-length dance show premiered live in Singapore in May as part of the Cultural Extravaganza Festival 2021.
Links
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