This is a fun musical in which eight incredibly energetic and athletic performers leap around on stage to the musical accompaniment of a quintet of vocalists, beat-boxer and bass. There’s a loose story-line (not that it matters too much as the emphasis is on the music and action) in which an explorer comes to the … [Read More]
Category: Event reports and reviews (page 12)
Brief Fringe review: Behind the Mirror
The Fringe version of Behind the Mirror, at 1 hour, is half an hour shorter than the full version that has successfully been performed in Korea for many years. In the version presented at the Fringe, the tale of Princess Pyonggang and General Ondal is told very briefly before a parallel story is told in … [Read More]
Brief Fringe review: Mind Goblin
Mind Goblin is a mysterious half-hour solo accompanied by a quiet, watery soundtrack. Sometimes serene, sometimes descending into madness, the solitary dancer / choreographer Lee Kyung-eun manages to retain our attention throughout the piece despite the lack of obvious rhythm to the music. The most striking moment comes when the soloist coughs up black liquid … [Read More]
Fringe review: Ensemble SU — The Party
Ensemble SU is a five-piece fusion group formed in 2010 and led by Jihye “JJ” Hur on 25-string gayageum with Yein Kim on haegeum, Myunghyun Park on cello, Sangjung Lee on keyboard and Deokhwan Kim playing Korean and western percussion (and not to be confused with a similarly named jazz / gugak fusion trio based … [Read More]
Fringe review: Kokdu – The Soul Mate
Intended to be a simple morality tale about respect for the dead and dying, as well as an exposition of Korean folk and shamanistic beliefs about burial customs and the afterlife, this ambitious production combines strong visuals and colourful costumes with storytelling that is an uncomfortable mixture of seriousness and slapstick. Sometimes it’s good to … [Read More]
Gossip and impressions from the Fringe
Before I get down to the serious business of writing up a few reviews of the shows I got to see, here is a round-up of random thoughts and gossip The performers’ work is never done… It’s never really dawned on me before how hard the performance teams work when they are in Edinburgh. Their … [Read More]
Reports from the London Korean Festival 2017
LKL didn’t make it to this year’s London Korean Festival at Olympia. Saturdays are precious, and I needed to spend this particular Saturday at the KCC doing background research on the current exhibition and upcoming film series which hopefully will inform my write-ups. In-depth reports of the Festival are now available on a couple of … [Read More]
Fringe 2017: two early recommendations
To help give a taste of the range of Korean talent at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, the KCC hosted a showcase of four of the acts, at the Lilian Baylis Studio. Of these, the stand-out performances were Behind the Mirror and Black and White Tea Room — Counsellor. LKL went along to the event hoping … [Read More]
Through Their Eyes exhibition opens in Kingston Museum
Kingston Museum’s exhibition devoted to Korean viewpoints on the UK and foreigner’s views on Korea opened last night with speeches from the Mayor, the Ambassador and the curator Seoyoung Kim (who bravely hosted the event despite being on crutches from a recent injury). Hyelim Kim endured the intense heat in the upstairs exhibition space to … [Read More]
Exhibition visit: Contemporary Korean Ceramics at the V+A
This year-long exhibition as part of the Korea/UK 2017-18 cultural collaboration brings together a range of approaches and responses to Korean ceramics. From work that is purely functional to work that is purely decorative, via work that seeks to critique contemporary Korean society, the unifying element is the quality of the craftsmanship and execution. Yoon … [Read More]
Exhibition visit: Haenyeo, Women of the Sea, at National Maritime Museum
The National Maritime Museum, part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Maritime Greenwich, played host to an exhibition featuring South Korea’s latest inclusion in UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage. Life-size photographs of Jeju’s famous diving women were dotted around a building which began life in 1807 as a school for the children of British seafarers. … [Read More]
An evening with Michael Breen and The New Koreans
When going to a book talk, it is all too common to find that the moderator has little knowledge of the book or its subject matter, and asks the author embarrassingly shallow questions leaving the audience and author short-changed. No such risks last night at the KCC, where the British Korean Society’s Chris Hollands conversed … [Read More]
Young In Hong’s 5100: Pentagon
Here are a few photos and a video from the two performances of Young In Hong’s work 5100: Pentagon on 4 June 2017 in the courtyard of the Royal Academy of Arts in Piccadilly. The performers were all volunteers, of whom fewer turned up than expected because of the terrorist incident in the London bridge … [Read More]
In pictures: Between Serenity and Dynamism – Korean ceramics at the KCC
Sometimes, words are unnecessary. The objects speak for themselves. So here are some of my photographs of the ceramics exhibition hosted by the KCC to coincide with London Craft Week 2017. The exhibition was organised by the Korea Craft and Design Foundation. A full catalogue of the exhibition can be downloaded here. [Read More]
Love X Stereo at the Windmill – both intimate and euphoric
Many thanks to Annie Ko and Toby Hwang for a fantastic gig down in Brixton on Monday night. Featuring tracks from their recently-released album 37A – the first fruits of their crowdfunded project for 2017 in which they aim to release 37 songs during the course of the year – as well as earlier albums, … [Read More]
Look forward, not back: how best to work with North Korean exiles
If I had been given a fiver every time a journalist or PhD student asked to be put in touch with North Korean refugees in the London area I wouldn’t be exactly rich, but there would be a few more books overflowing from my already full bookcase. Whether it be for reaction to the latest … [Read More]