Nanta (난타 also known as Cookin’ Nanta or in Chinese: 乱打秀) is a must-see non verbal comedy performance in South Korea which incorporates traditional Korean samul nori music. You know those Korean tourism videos where you can see scenes of people in traditional costumes hitting on large drums to create a rhythm – that is samul nori (something like the Japanese taiko drums). The word samul means “four objects” and nori means “play”; samul nori is performed with four traditional Korean drum-like musical instruments but in the case of Cookin’ Nanta, it is performed with improvised instruments that you can find the kitchen e.g. knives, cutting boards and large containers.

The story is about three cooks in a restaurant trying to prepare a wedding banquet within a tight deadline while the manager disrupts the process by putting his incompetent nephew among the kitchen staff. You don’t have to understand a single word of Korean as the performance is almost completely non-verbal. When they do speak, it is mostly in English.

Overall, it is a very interesting and fun experience catching the Cookin’ NANTA show. It is 100 minutes long – there are some parts where it can get quite draggy; while it is interesting to see how they improvise on kitchen items to produce music, some parts where they play the music with their improvised instruments were quite long and draggy. There are many audience interaction segments where some audience members could be “arrowed” to participate in an awkward wedding ceremony or an exciting competitive dumpling making contest.

We secured VIP tickets for our NANTA performance in Myeongdong, Seoul. “VIP” tickets at Myeongdong NANTA theatre cost 60,000 Korean won (about 60 USD) – 10,000 won more than the “S” tickets.  Don’t bother with the “A” tickets as those are Circle/Balcony seats on top (they cost 10,000 won cheaper than the “S” tickets).  The most atas seats are the “Premium” seats which I think are quite similar to the “VIP” seats – in fact i think our row is just one row behind the “Premium” seats – check out the picture on top for what our view looks like.

The Myeongdong NANTA Theater is located right in the heart of Myeongdong and about 5 minutes walk (you might need to cater more time if you are easily distracted by food and shopping at the street stalls along the way) from our hotel (J Hill Hotel) in Myeongdong. This is a very convenient location as you can have post-performance dinner at either one of the food stalls along the Myeongdong streets or at one of many restaurants in the area.

There is another NANTA theatre near City Hall area (Chungjeongno) – if you are staying near there, you might want to catch the performance there. Nanta is also showing at the NANTA theatre at Jeju island as well as in Bangkok, Thailand. See below for the timings and ticket pricing and location of the NANTA theatre in South Korea and Thailand.

Buy Your Cookin’ Nanta Performance Tickets Online Early

If you intend to catch the Cookin’ NANTA show in Myeongdong, Seoul during your trip, there is no point buying it over the counter as it will likely be sold out.  You can skip the line and get discounted tickets up to 50% off buy purchasing on Klook. They offer exclusive insider deals from skip-the-line passes and ticket collection is hassle-free! You will receive your e-ticket(s) instantly after you book with . All you have to do is to show the e-ticket(s) at the entrance and you will be admitted straight away. You can also book the tickets for the NANTA shows in Jeju here if you’re thinking of catching it on that island.

Just as an example, I tried to simulate a booking of NANTA tickets at Myeongdong NANTA theater one month from now (i.e. I tried to book tickets to see the 26 July performance today (on 29 June)), the screenshot below shows that almost 80% of the tickets have been bought! So if you are certain you are going to catch the Cookin’ NANTA show in Myeongdong, book your tickets online early.

 

Look Out for Discounts for Cookin’ NANTA Performance at the NANTA Website (Jeju and Seoul NANTA Theater Discounts are Different!)

There are many promotions and discounts available on the NANTA website – they differ by month – just for July 2014, you can catch a Cookin’ NANTA show at the Myeongdong NANTA theater, the picture below (non-exhaustive) shows the whole slew of discounts available – you can even enjoy 50% off the Myeongdong Cookin’ NANTA 2pm show on Fridays (just by liking Cookin’ NANTA on facebook and showing your smartphone with proof that you liked their page at the ticket box office! NANTA show tickets are not cheap – at about 60+ Singapore dollars just for standard tickets so a 50% discount is a great bargain!

There are packages with AREX train tickets too so if you are taking the AREX into Seoul city from the Incheon airport – you might want to consider buying this package online to enjoy discounts for both your AREX train tickets and Cookin’ NANTA show tickets!  No matter what, you can at least secure a 20% discount on your NANTA tickets so don’t ever pay full price for your tickets through buying over the counter (which is almost impossible anyway) or through third party ticket sellers.

Check online at http://nanta.i-pmc.co.kr/Nanta/en/ticket/ticketing.aspx for more details and other discounts.  As of date of the publication of this blog post, there appears to be no discounts available for Jeju NANTA theatre so another point to note is to pick the right NANTA theater and compare the promotions/discounts for the best value ticket if you are budget conscious.

When booking your NANTA tickets, make sure to pick the right discounts and pay by credit card – you can opt to pick up your tickets at the box office.

Each cast stars five characters – the Manager, Head Chef, Hot Sauce, Sexy Guy and Nephew.  There are many teams of NANTA cast and they are color-coded e.g. Blue, Brown, Red, Yellow. If you have a preferred cast to watch, then you can schedule your visit accordingly – NANTA publishes a calendar of the various active cast on each day. Our NANTA cast was the blue team (see picture below) – the Head Chef (the guy with the green collar) is a great performer and his expressive faces have been featured on NANTA’s facebook page quite a number of times!

Us trying to get in the NANTA Cookin’ Act! There are a few of these NANTA creative backdrops at the waiting area for you to take photos with before the show – do so before the show as it gets very very crowded afterwards.

Cookin’ NANTA made its international debut in 1999 at Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where it received an award for the best performance. Since then, it has been staged in the U.K., Germany, Austria, Italy, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, the Netherlands, Australia, etc. Eventually Cookin’ NANTA made it all the way to New York, premiering at the Minetta Lane Theater on 7 March 2004 and ran for one and a half years. Cookin’ NANTA was the first Asian show to open its own off-Broadway theatre.

Cookin’ Nanta is returning to Singapore Resorts World Sentosa at Resorts World Theatre for 4 days only in 2014. If you can’t catch Cookin’ Nanta, you can catch it here in Singapore. Book through SISTIC here: http://www.sistic.com.sg/events/nanta0714

Thu, 10 – Sun, 13 Jul 2014
Thu – Sat: 8pm
Sat – Sun: 2.30pm

Premium: S$128
Standard: S$108, S$98, S$68
Restricted View: S$48

20% Discount for Priority HSBC Credit/Debit Card Holder
[Applicable for Cat 1 to Cat 2 & Premium(cat 5)]
[Applicable till 13 Apr 2014]
[Applicable to all HSBC cardholders]
[Transactions made with HSBC Credit/Debit Cards]

15% Discount for HSBC Credit/Debit Card Holder
[Applicable for Cat 1 to Cat 2 & Premium(cat 5)]
[Applicable from 14 Apr 2014 onwards]
[Applicable to all HSBC cardholders]
[Transactions made with HSBC Credit/Debit Cards]

12% Discount for SISTIC members Special
[Verification: Present valid membership upon purchase]
[Applicable from 14 Apr 2014 onwards]
[Applicable for Cat 1 to Cat 3]

12% Discount for PAssion Card
[Verification: Present valid membership card upon purchase tickets at the counter or quote or key password upon purchase ticket thru. hotline and online.]
[Valid from 14 April 2014 onwards.]
[Applicable for Cat 1 to Cat 3]

10% Discount for Kids Performing
[Verification: Quote or key valid password upon purchase of tickets.]
[Applicable for Cat 1 to Cat 3]
[Applicable from 7 Jun 2014 onwards]

Buy 3 get 1 Free for HSBC Credit/Debit Card Holder
[Applicable for Cat 2 only]
[Applicable from 11 Jun 2014 onwards]
[Applicable to all HSBC cardholders]
[Transactions made with HSBC Credit/Debit Cards]
[Base on first come first serve basis with the first 100 transaction for the package of 4.]

30% Discount for Nanta RoadShow
[Verification: Present 30% roadshow flyer at Resorts World Theatre ticketing counter or Book through SISTIC website & SISTIC counter with Promo Code only.]
[Applicable for Cat 1 to Cat 3]
[Applicable from 9 – 13 Jul 2014 onwards]