Review: SNAP – OZASIA FESTIVAL 2022 at Her Majesty's Theatre

Reviewed by Eddy and Justene Knight, Thursday 20th October 2022.

A simply joyous, fun, funny and beautiful piece of theatre; probably the most enjoyable night we have had at the theatre in many, many years.

SNAP, from South Korea, is a show where the ensemble cast of seven work seamlessly with each other, and the work of the set, lighting, music, and costume designers enhance the vision of the director, Casa Kim, and provide the actors with a magically integrated world in which to shine.

The audience is still settling, saying hi to friends, finding their seats, enjoying the theme music and looking at the simple stage when, without fuss, the three Tricksters (YeongMin Lee, SunWoo Kim and Hyunki Min) stumble onto the stage while the house lights and theme music are still up, introducing themselves, their characters, and greeting the audience. And so, the show begins, 15 scenes or vignettes that take us on a journey of laughter, high energy, utter beauty, and at times simple silent poignancy, all performed with breathtaking skill, be it mime, juggling, sleight of hand, shadow puppetry, or incredible visual effects.

The three tricksters are practiced circus tumblers, their clown face make-ups so expressive, their physical skills at absolute perfection as they fall in and out of 'the door', often pursuing a runaway red handkerchief that just refuses to stay still. They do tricks, they fall about, they lose their shoes, they get frightened, and they laugh and they carry us with them. If this was all there was the show would be exciting enough, but at one point a curtain rises and in a beautiful tableau we are given a vision of what is about to unfold. It tantalises, we don't understand what the four statues are, but we do see them as beautiful in their stillness, before the curtains falls on them again.

The tricksters carry on but, in between their rollicking routines, one by one the four mystical creatures are revealed by the curtain and each get their chance to display their quite astounding skills.

First, HoJeong Lee, as The Florist, who makes flowers of his hands and fingers, who creates an exquisite and elegant counterpoint to the soundscape of piano, before astonishing the audience with fluttering, cascading and tumbling cards that float, become butterflies, transform into and out of flowers again, and provide a scene of utter beauty.

Second, we meet YoungMin Kim as The Alchemist. Now the energy changes, it's cheeky, it's knowing, and YoungMin Kim invites the audience to join in with his amusement as he juggles books with astonishing skill, and then creates images with them.

Third, we are introduced to Tae Won Kim, as The Dreamer. Now the tempo is slower, it's poignant and elegant, and he manipulates sand as it flows and sparkles through his hands and up into the air. A magician, who, in another life, looks to be a particle physicist, directing flows of glittering atoms.

Finally, we encounter YoungJu Kim, as The Oddball. High energy, movement, innocence, and physicality, with light and colour, and visual effects that leave you wondering how on earth did he do that?

Interspersed, woven in and out, our three tricksters return to tumble, juggle, perform hilarious magic, connect the story, and invite the audience to take a journey of utter joy. They, and their colleagues, were simply brilliant.

Go see it. It was, in one word, fun, and doesn't the world need fun?

Photography, Tae Won Kim.

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