Nanta

Loosely translated - Nanta means "to pound on something" and I like to translate this to be somewhat synonymous with 'Stomp.' But it also translates onto the stage as fabulous!

Yesterday, Wayne & I spent our Sunday afternoon with some of our Korean colleagues and went to the play Nanta. The funny part about it was that Nanta has been around in Korea for the past 12 years and is the longest running play/performance of it's time, but none of our colleagues have ever seen it ...while Wayne has. I suppose it is more of a tourist attraction, as there were many people there from all areas - Japan, China and a handful of either Americans or Canadians (tough to distinguish until you talk to them.)

For those of you that know me very well (or perhaps I am more transparent than I think) know that I absolutely love musicals and all things that sing and dance! I even went to see Highschool Musical in the theatres and I am begging my brother to download Fame and send it this way because I think it will change my life in some dramatic way. I dream about a world where you could be standing in line at the mall, or sitting alongside your friends in the cafeteria and all of a sudden the room would just break out into a song and dance number. I get chills just thinking about it.

I also lay awake some nights wondering how I could be blessed with a love of performing and entertaining, but without any type of talents to go along with this love. I guess that falls into the category of 'Life's Not Fair.'

Anyways, Nanta was incredible. It combined humour with dancing and acting throughout a storyline that kept the audience entertained for the entire one a half hour performance. They even included the audience in the storyline a number of times and had people in hysterics when they were dragged onto the stage. Although it was set in a Korean kitchen, there was a great deal of english spoken and there was never a language barrier for the guests ...the facial expressions combined with the motions of the actors were enough to tell the entire story.

The cast was fabulous, consisting of 5 different actors and from what I can tell, they have about 5 different sets of actors that perform the play. The play all takes place in the kitchen, where a wedding is set to take place in less than 2 hours time. And I will say this - that kitchen becomes messy and the knives that they use (along with the fire and the water) are real! You would be amazed at how many pieces they can make out of a carrot or a cucumber.

I would recommend this show to absolutely everyone that comes to visit us, it was worth the money and the theatre was small enough that every single seat would be fine to see the stage from.