This year in London we have been fortunate so far to have enjoyed four Korean stage productions: two imports with a run of several weeks each, and two shoestring-budget local productions with a handful of performances. Which would we go to see again? Do the plucky locals win out over the imports? In summary, three cheers for the three writer-performers, and we hope that the two locally-based artists get plenty of future opportunities to show what they can do with bigger budgets.
Kim’s Convenience at Riverside Studios
The first of the two imports is Kim’s Convenience, written by and starring Korean Canadian Ins Choi. The production is best known as a Netflix TV series, though the TV show was a spin-off from the play that has been presented both in Canada and in North London earlier this year. It is now back for a second run, this time at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith. This second run is every bit as enjoyable as the sold-out first run, and comes with the added extras of a foyer booth selling Korean snacks and a photographic exhibition of small family-run businesses in London. As you might expect, many of the featured business are Korean owned and New Malden based – Jinny Beauty Salon, Imone and Jingogae restaurants, and of course Korea Foods, who helped with much of the produce seen on stage and in the foyer booth.
The theatre was nicely themed for the occasion: theatre staff were wearing aprons with the Kim’s Convenience logo in the signature turquoise blue, and the food stall in the foyer had similar branding. Altogether an entertaining evening. We wrote in more detail in our review of the Finsbury Park production in January. We enjoyed it then, and would even go a third time.
Marie Curie at the Charing Cross Theatre
The second of the imports is a rather strange beast. Korea has been hugely successful, through various iterations of the Korean Wave, in exporting many of its cultural contents globally: movies, TV dramas, boy and girl bands, literature and more. And in various ways the Korean government has provided some of the institutional support to prepare the way for such success. So now we have K-musicals. Hansol Oh summarises the musical Marie Curie well in The Theatre Times and provides the following helpful background:
The musical grew out of a series of state-funded ventures over four years with the intention of incubating a cultural export with wide appeal. The libretto, authored by Cheon Se-eun, made its first mark in 2017 as the final contestant of “Glocal Musical Live,” a competition for original musicals hosted by the Korea Creative Content Agency.
Over the decades we’ve seen two other London presentations of big budget Western-style musicals originating in Korea: Another Sun, a mythological saga with Dokdo at its centre, and The Last Empress, an historical epic focusing on the growing hostile Japanese presence in Korea at the end of the nineteenth century. Both musicals felt rushed because of the density of the storyline, had gorgeous visuals but lacked any memorable tunes and didn’t feel very relatable. Marie Curie too packed in a lot of story and didn’t have any stand-out melodies, but somehow was more engaging than its predecessors in having themes that audiences can relate to: gender and migration issues, the quest for knowledge, and the moral issues associated with the development and exploitation of discoveries with harmful side effects. Nevertheless, having the name of a radioactive element as the climactic word in a song felt a little odd, and one wonders whether the concept would work better as a straightforward play rather than a musical.
For the purposes of the London presentation (and, presumably, in preparation for future international performances), the book had been translated into English and had an English-speaking cast, all of whom were impressive. The resulting production was interesting and enjoyable, but lacked any obvious element of Korean-ness. How does it measure up against a typical Broadway or West End musical? We’re unqualified to judge as modern Western-style musicals in general leave us cold (give us the latest production by the National Changgeuk Company any day). Would we go to see it again? No (see answer to previous question), but we’re glad we forked out the fifty quid to experience it for research purposes. The real thrill associated with the production was an intimate cabaret-style showcase in Brasserie Zedel which included members from both the London and original Korean cast, including K-pop royalty Ock Joo-hyun, formerly of the girl band Fin.K.L. Thanks to the KCC for an invitation to that little treat.
A couple of numbers from the musical were performed in Trafalgar Square during the show’s run:
Housemates, at the Camden Fringe
Now for the first of the shoestring-budget local productions. We’ve encountered Woori Han a couple of times before, first appearing in a pub theatre production of Homeland by young Korean theatremaker HeeJin Kim (we didn’t get around to reviewing that one, but enjoyed the show); next as translator, producer and actor in Youngsun Yoon’s 1997 play The Kiss (another pub theatre production, reviewed here). And most recently at the Camden Fringe as writer, producer and actor in Housemates, a musical in which she also composed one of the songs.
The production is a gentle comedy about the daily lives of two flatmates, one Korean (Yujin), the other English (Zoe). The scenes are all ones we can relate to: the forgetful flatmate who has arranged for some people to come round for drinks without telling her flatmate, and then expects her to do the catering; or the bickering about household discipline such as sorting the recycling properly.
Then there are the scenes which tell of the experiences of the Asian in England: the incidents of being watched by suspicious or threatening white eyes, here represented by the fox that stares menacingly at Yujin. Then there’s the slightly creepy neighbour who tries to ingratiate himself with Yujin by trying to demonstrate his cultural awareness – a situation which is then gently and humorously punctured as the audience realises that the neighbour cannot distinguish between Korean, Japanese and Chinese cultures.
The tension is ramped up as we realise that Yujin’s mother will be visiting from Korea just as the drinks party will kick off: what will she think of Yujin’s choice of romantic partner? Will the two flatmates overcome the various mishaps that constantly thwart their party preparations? It’s all enjoyable, entertaining stuff which would transfer well as a TV sitcom, but here we had the added bonus of charming songs that punctuated the drama. The low-budget props made of decorated cardboard added to the charm.
What is remarkable is the way the piece came into being: Han was planning to visit a friend in New York and suggested they put on a production together. Two days later the script was written and three weeks later the production was on a New York stage. This first version was not a musical. The Camden Fringe version came six months later with the added songs, and the road between the two was not without drama as, along the way, Han parted with the composer originally earmarked to provide the music. A chance meeting in a pub with a another musician, fortuitously also Korean, completed the company.
Although the piece was precisely the right bite-sized length for a Fringe production, it felt a little brief. One longed for a second act in which Yujin’s mother arrives from the airport in the middle of the party and perhaps mistakenly identifies Yujin’s partner. But such a second act would need more performers and more budget, a luxury which is in short supply. We understand that one of Han’s passions is stand-up comedy, and we can see how that passion informed Housemates, benefiting as it does from observational humour drawn from real-life experience. We look forward to seeing what she does next.
The Waiting Room, at the Camden Fringe
Like Woori Han, Moon Kim, the writer-performer of The Waiting Room, studied at East 15 Acting School; and like Housemates, The Waiting Room draws on the life experiences of the writer, and even has a song towards its conclusion. But there the similarities end. Moon Kim’s piece is a serious and intense psychological study, and comes with a matching intense solo performance from Kim as Lemon, the only character in the play. Past and present are intertwined, as Lemon recalls the shattering experience of being abandoned by her mother as a young child and now faces a similar abandonment by her girlfriend Cactus whom she imagines to be in the next room, listening to her but ignoring her. The play is about longings for the unachievable, about potentials and possibilities not being realised, about rejections, blockages and barriers.
The play is punctuated by swift costume-changes which represent different phases in Lemon’s life, and are facilitated by a clothes rail which is the main prop on stage. Lemon’s musings run the gamut of emotions from wistful to wrathful, and are sometimes coherent, sometimes bordering on the unhinged. One wonders whether, actually, Cactus exists as a real person or is an imaginary, idealised life partner. If I remember right Lemon describes her hair as “prickly”, and says she wants to “water” her. I’d love to have the script of the play to make a bit more sense of it, or to see the play a second time. Whatever, Moon Kim is another talent to be watched.
Links:
- Original event announcements: Kim’s Convenience | Marie Curie | Housemates | The Waiting Room
- Review of Kim’s Convenience in The Arts Desk | Broadway World | Londonist | London Theatre
- Review of Marie Curie in Broadway World | The Arts Desk | Theatre Vibe | What’s on Stage | Theatre Times
- Review of The Waiting Room in The Obscurity | A Shiny Life for Me | Adventures in Theatreland | Reviews Hub
Thanks to Chloé Nelkin Consulting for the ticket to Kim’s Convenience, and to KCCUK for the invitation to the Brasserie Zedel Marie Curie showcase.