Jump  –  Martial Arts Comedy
Large spectacular Martial Arts shows are becoming regulars at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival one of these, is the show ‘Jump’. Yegam Theatre Company was established in Seoul, Korea in 2003 and combines acrobatics, comedy, martial arts and physical theatre. Billed as a musical arts-comedy the show revolves around a Korean family, grandfather, uncle, granddaughter, mother and father introduce a demon-possessed suitor and two inept burglars and we get ‘Jump’. From the moment you take your seat the show begins with an old man interacting with the audience, he turns out to be the stage manager without whom the show can’t go on. We then meet the members of the family and the spectacle has truly begun. Each member of the family has his or her own speciality which is demonstrated as Grandfather takes them through their daily training. The mix of martial arts, dance and physical theatre together with the addition of a storyline helps keep your attention throughout. There are sections where they rewind the action by doing everything backwards and once or twice repeat it forward and backwards in slow motion or fast-forward. The fight scenes are so well choreographed that no one seems to get hurt but one false move could cause some real damage. This is a clever entertaining show and is doing very good business. The only drawback is the £5 programme which is very plush but you also find out the size of the company as each character has a minimum of three actors an a maximum of six, so you’ll probably not know who was on. Having recently gotten in to Jackie Chan it was a delight to watch this show. ****