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Jump

Published Wednesday 8 February 2006 at 13:10 by Gavin Roebuck

Jump is an unusual show made up of an exhilarating display of the Korean fighting art of Tae Kwon Do, acrobatics and sword fights crossed with a simple sitcom.

Set in an average Korean home, the family members are all surprisingly agile. They include a grandfather, a drunken uncle and a karate-chopping mother. Each is a specialist in a martial art and they enjoy challenging each other. Comedy and combat is very Tom and Jerry and the characterisations and plot have the simplicity of cartoons.

With Manga children’s cartoons being so popular in Korea it is easy to see how the show came about. There are numerous moments of slapstick comedy performed with immaculate timing. To a soundtrack by Dong-Jun Lee, the performers wallop and kick each other with gusto, much to the delight of many in the audience, two members of which are taken onstage as challengers and safely join in.

This Korean company Ye-Gam Inc has been going for three years and has given over 700 performances specialising in acrobatic martial arts, performed here with artistry and wit. This show of martial arts and slapstick physical comedy ends with the audience clapping in unison while the performers dazzlingly demonstrate their skill by showing off their back flips, double somersaults in the air and other gymnastic tricks.

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