The Chaser- review

‘The Chaser’ is an 80 minutes long programme.

I had tremendous good fun for 70 minutes and thoroughly enjoyed myself. ^^

The first 10 minutes explained what the book was about- it was an ancient, valuable book that was capable of curing a disease. It was a little slow in getting started and it also took me awhile to figure out what they were miming. In fact, I’m still trying to figure out what the powder was all about. So that first 10 minutes were ok but nor great fun yet.

But after that first 10 minutes, it was good fun from the word ‘go’.

If you have watched Nanta, Jump, Breakout, Sachoom at the recent Brown Eyed Girls live show at Zouk, this will not be unfamiliar to you as the show used a little from each of these acts in their show.

So there are lots of acrobatic acts, a little dancing, magic shows, miming and drums! And oh…even got puppets. hehe! Sounds a little chaotic? Well, it is chaotic fun. : )

Never mind that the storyline is really thin, unlike Jump or Breakout- the importance is not in the story but the process of ‘the chase’. (Maybe the title should be changed from The Chaser to The Chase?) And indeed, sometimes parts of it seemed to be just deliberate acts of engaging the audience and nothing to do with the story. But you know what, nobody cared, judging from the laughter all around, young and old.

One of the highlights of the show in my opinion is the audience participation (yup, they pulled a couple of audience into the show), because it is unscripted. The cast have to perform according to the participants’ reaction…which makes it all a little unpredictable and tremendous fun. So those going to watch it, be prepared to be called up. And if you are selected. join in with your whole heart and enjoy yourself.

The performance has huge doses of slapstick comedy, which they executed well…especially the ‘dumb thief’. I believe they must have spent some time doing research to cater to the local audience…because in one of the segment, they actually played the song 侽儿儅自强 whilst they were fighting. hahaha! It was really funny.

The other highlight for me was the drums performance at the end of the show. I love Korean drums. And if you are like me and enjoyed the energy that radiates from them, then you will definitely find yourself tapping to the pounding rhythm.

Group Pocha was set up only in 2008 and ‘The Chaser’ as an act is still quite new. Perhaps that may explain why the juggling acts were not as smooth as it should be and certain segments of it seemed a little less flowing.

But, these were very minor flaws. The cast were enjoying themselves and it shows. That to me, is more important.

‘The Chaser’ is presented by The Esplanade as part of the Flipside festival and brought in by Boom Korea and Red Spade. If you haven’t bought your tickets yet, you can still do so here. Highly recommended especially if you need to destress.

I managed to take a photo of the cast after the show, just before they headed for their dinner/ supper.

psssst… the guy playing the detective is rather cute. hehehe!

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