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Edinburgh Fringe 2019

Spray

Cho-in Theatre Company

Genre: Physical Theatre

Venue: Assembly Roxy

Festival:


Low Down

Created by award winning South Korean director Chung-euy Park, ‘Spray’ follows the story of a man who begins to steal his neighbour’s parcels. All seems well for this new criminal, until one day a parcel he takes contains the body of a dead cat.

Review

South Korean physical theatre company ‘Cho-in Theatre Company’ present their highly physical and dark comedic piece titled ‘Spray’. Adapted from a popular Korean novel by Kim Kyung-wook, ‘Spray’ follows the story of a man who accidently takes a parcel belonging to someone else in his apartment block. Although, he eventually develops a lustful taste for such a crime and begins to steal more and more. But, one day he takes a parcel belonging to another neighbour only to find the lifeless body of their cat inside. Overall, this show is about a man who wants to break away from society in a bid to follow his own destiny.

The stage consists of large white squares on a black surface, creating a life-sized human chess board for its actors to move upon. Each actor elegantly floats on its surface as if they are walking on water. But any mention of this productions set cannot forget the revolving panels that the actors so expertly manoeuvre around the stage. With complexed choreography, as an audience we are transformed from one location to another in a matter of seconds. With the help of 3D projection mapping technology, the square panels are lit up in vibrant colours that create pure visual beauty for the human senses.

Each character is dressed in a specefic colour which represents them throughout the show. This is a simple way for audiences to recognise each character and their journey within the story. Some of the expressions that the actors were able to translate were that of a mime artist or Bouffon Clown. Although, these hilarious facial expressions weren’t always noticeable as the lighting was a little too dark at moments.

Nearly all of the text is pre-recorded and is in the company’s native Korean language. Although, they have provided two large screens on each side of the stage to give translations of the text for audience in English. Because of this, on some occasions it was hard to follow the storyline as you found yourself looking from the screen to the fast-paced action on the stage. But one could argue, as an audience we should celebrate the fact we are seeing a foreign company perform in a language different to our own. That is what Fringe is about! Especially when they are doing it with such charisma and charm.

This show is highly recommended and provides a new type of offer to a wide-spread Fringe programme. The slick movements of these highly talented actors should be enough for you to want to buy a ticket.

It really is a beautiful piece of physical theatre and I encourage you to see it!

Published