A 40 minute show from the Republic of Korea, this is billed as a theatre piece but is more one man and a guitar, and his story of how he connects with music.
The description given is as follows: “From now on, I have some work to do with this guitar. As for my work, it is to play the guitar and to sing a song.
But… I mean to say… speaking accurately… it is to choose. Yes, to make the choice and the selection… (You will get old and new K-Pop tunes in this performance, as well as “my” tale.)”.
The show suffers from significant audio problems at the start with changing sound levels and some other issues, but I appreciated the subtitling which gives some idea of the story we are here to follow.
Telling a tale through music is nothing new, so what is interesting is how the artist puts across the work and what they are trying to communicate to us.
This is a production by Theatric Company Blue Bear and Woong Park, and is a semi-professional piece which can be enjoyed as the performer draws on different styles of music for voice and guitar, both in Korean and English.
It also gives an insight into how song and music reach across different cultures and lets us into examples we may not find on our own.
I enjoyed this as a musical performance, and Woong is a confident performer who clearly appreciates music and what it means to him and to others.
This is a simple production, but supplies some information about chord progression and how this can be applied to curating a performance, whether including what he terms ‘exciting songs’ or more sad and reflective ones.
I wouldn’t call it ‘theatre’, necessarily, although it presents some of those elements (he works as a ‘fake’ friend who sings at weddings, he discusses refugees), but My Tale Of Guitar is an interesting show, and worth a watch.
My Tale of Guitar is available on-demand to the end of Edinburgh Fringe.
**.5