A review of ARI: The Spirit of Korea, Fringe 2024

ARI is part of the Edinburgh Festivals’ Korean season, and I hoped to see and hear some impressive drum action. I was not disappointed.

Also, Korea seems to have been the champion of geek and subculture fashion for a while now. Who am I to sneak some Black Pink onto my Spotify shuffle if I know nothing about more traditional Korean music?

Okay, I don’t know how traditional ARI is, and there are certainly nods to modern culture throughout (Korea’s Got Talent features, for example), but the physical theatre and music style feel appropriate.

Vibe

I was more than a bit intimidated even before curtain up. In part, that’s because the show is in the impressive Assembly Building on the Mound. Without having anything beyond a life-long anime addiction from which to make assumptions, showing appropriate respect and appreciation would be significant. Lastly, and in my defence, there are two big screens on either side of the stage (later used for subtitles) and a projection onto the curtain that spelt out when to clap and make noise, to show respect and that the police would be called if needed. 

I started to relax into a state of ‘wow’ pretty quickly! 

The show starts as the troupe bursts onto the stage, and with all that energy pouring off the performers, it’s second nature to clap along.

In the hour we have some solo singing, some duets, plenty of group songs and lots of dancing. It’s all great and all in Korean.

The female characters are graceful, precise, dexterous and elegant. For example, there’s a scene with fans that timed to perfection. 

The male characters are strong, powerful and robust. For example, there’s a scene for rowing a ship where the characters have huge (bamboo?) poles that they leap around with, slap down and wield like halberds.

I got my drum scene, but my favourite was another percussion performance with staff and staves.

What to expect

ARI is a musical story and a truncated adventure. The subtitles, which are easy to read unless you sit too close to the front, explain what’s going on.

My summary of the plot, and let’s see if I got this right, is that our hero gets married to a pretty wife, has a daughter who cries loudly but then he gets whisked off to the city. 15 years later, he returns after the wife has done all the hard work, and the crying kid has become a spunky teenager. The skiver.

I liked the scene when he got slapped and called “enemy husband”.

Actually, a few scenes earlier, I’m pretty damn sure that although the subtitle revealed the official line was “go away”, the performer said, “F*** off”. If so, ARI deserves another star!

I was most surprised that the performers were not restricted to the stage. Even before the show started, the actors were out and about to say hello and walk between the seats. At times, the drama fled off the stage and out the side doors. 

Getting there early, I was right by the front, and a few times, Korean feet suddenly jumped in front of me. At one point, I thought I was going to be draped by a 20-foot-long ribbon.

Overall

I enjoyed ARI! I don’t feel snooty about attending a foreign language performance at the Fringe. I feel more enlightened.

Will ARI entertain kids? At the end of my row, I had two of them. The young girl, I’d estimate at about 13, zombie stared the stage for the entire duration, chewing her mouthguard and refusing even to high-five a performer when offered. Maybe 10, her younger brother started off distracted but was soon hooked. He repaired his sister’s sub of the actress by providing a high five.