Jump

Published Friday 18 April 2008 at 12:15 by Katie Colombus

The Peacock Theatre sits over a thousand audience members. So what are the odds that someone hiding happily behind a notebook and a plus one will be picked out of the masses for a spot of truly cringe worthy audience participation?

And yet there I was, enjoying Korean company Yegam’s hilarious mix of tae kwon do, gymnastics and physical theatre on their third visit back to London, when the lights go up and two poor fools are dragged onto the stage for some good-hearted humiliation.

So, the action centres on an extended family, all living under one roof - a Pai-Mei-esque grandfather figure and master of the martial action (Su-Young Kim), a butt-kicking mother and father, a drunken uncle (Jae-Hoon Lee), a beautiful and agile daughter (Bo-Leum Whi), a geeky son in law and a pair of buffoon-burglars. Their domestic routine is jam-packed with board-breaking, flying high-kicks, sword-fighting, somersaults, back flips and a break-in.

The humour is slapstick, the gimmicks brash and the techniques polished. It’s like a Korean version of Neighbours choreographed by Jackie Chan.

But back to this reviewer’s stage debut. I was taken up on stage to wow the cast and onlookers with my fighting skills - luckily for me my opponent went slow motion before the first punch was thrown, and grandfather was on-hand to whisper my corresponding movements. I won the fight and received a signed poster for my pains. Good times. Fun too for the audience to chuckle along - a real mixture of old and young, theatre goer and fun-seeker, martial arts enthusiast and physical theatre fan.