By Chung Ah-young
Staff Reporter
Ten cucumbers, three onions, five cabbages and ten carrots _ can you guess what these are for? This is the amount of vegetables that were consumed at the first performance of ``Nanta'' (Cookin'), or Korea's representative non-verbal performance.
Over the past decade, the numbers have accumulated to 280,000 vegetables, weighing 200 tons, 1,200 chopping boards and 11,000 knives.
The performance will mark the 10th anniversary of its creation on Oct. 10, setting a record in the history of Korean performing arts.
First staged at Hoam Art Hall in Seoul in 1997, the show has been performed all year round at the two exclusive theaters in southern and northern Seoul.
The show, in which kitchen utensils and vegetables are played like Korean traditional percussion instruments to make samulnori rhythms, has grown substantially over the last 10 years through comical story upgrades to appeal to a wider audience.
The record-setting performance also boasts of attracting 3.49 million viewers over the past decade as of the end of August, with ticket sales amounting to about 70 billion won.
According to the PMC Production, it was the first sold-out performance that participated in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1999 as a Korean production. Since then, the show has toured about 205 cities in 24 countries.
``A common story that could take place in the kitchen, combining Korean traditional rhythms and using physical performance rather than language, can draw understanding from foreigners,'' said Song Seung-whan, CEO of the PMC Production, producer of the show.
``Also, the aggressive marketing strategy targeting foreigners and establishing an exclusive theater for `Nanta' in the early period is the secret of its success,'' he added.
The show troupe performed at Minetta Lane Theater in Broadway from March in 2004 for one and half years, drawing 150,000 American theater-goers.
The PMC production said that many international celebrities and dignitaries such as former Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Hollywood actor Nicholas Cage, and late actor Leslie Cheung have seen the show.
The production company will hold a celebration event on Wednesday at Westin Chosun Hotel in central Seoul.
At the event, the company will appoint four celebrities including actress Yun Eun-hye and Andy, a member of boy group Shinhwa, as cultural envoys.