Since its inception in Korea in 2003, Jump has enjoyed numerous sell-out shows and toured throughout Europe, America and Asia. Amongst it’s impressive credentials, it has been awarded the prize for The Best Performing Arts of Korea by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism of Korea. Jump has its own permanent theatre in Seoul. It has had record sell out performances at the Edinburgh Fringe and to date, Jump has been seen by over 3.5 million people worldwide in 60 cities in 27 countries. We are now very pleased that Jump has decided to come back to us here in London, where the show has just launched back in the Peacock Theatre for the second time, following their debut here a few years ago. With a nod to popular martial arts series and movies, ranging from Crouching Tiger Hidden, to Jackie Chan and Charlie Chaplin!
Jump tells the tale of a Korean family whose entire family love having stand-offs against each other and practicing their moves and skill around the house, competing with each other, just for the fun of it. They are all masters in some sort of martial arts, or other, therefore, beware! The not so smart burglars who decide to impose themselves on their chaotic home get a lot more than they bargain for. We felt as if the show really came alive when the burglars came in to the show, as initially if felt as if the show took a while to get in to the momentum, but once it did, there was no holding back and it was a snowball of explosional talent and humour from therein, with a few swashbuckling sword fights thrown in.
The entire family have their own strong personalities, which makes watching them performing on stage all that bit more enjoyable. Standing out in the family unit, we have the grandfather, the drunken uncle, the angel-faced daughter, the aggressively assertive mother who knows everything and the father who tries to keep some sort of balance! Also thrown in to the mix is the half hulk/half science geek who comes to see the family and falls in love with the daughter. Much hilarity and slapstick comes between a showdown with the entire family and the burglars. Our favourite was Yeop Heo, known as Burglar 2, with his tall and clumsy appearance, with hair taller than Marge Simpson, his comedy timing that was impeccable and we loved his funny facial expressions, he really added a lot of depth to the cast and we could have watched him all night.
The talent of this cast have no limits, they are complete masters of Tae Kwon Do, gymnastics, martial arts and hapkido, to name a few. They make everything look so easy, as if running up a wall higher than you can crane your neck to, then do a back-flip as it they were floating on air is the easiest thing to do in the world. We loved the variety that the show brought and we haven’t seen anything like it in a long while. We don’t often find ourselves able to sit through a performance with such little dialogue and find ourselves laughing from beginning to end. Jump is a delightful show, with a seriously talented cast. The children in the audience especially loved it and we couldn’t stop hearing their little voices laughing all around the theatre. This is definitely a show for all ages however and we thoroughly recommend it.
