NANTA Show Tickets, Seoul

NANTA — also sold as Cookin' NANTA — is a non-verbal Korean comedy show set in a restaurant kitchen. Four cooks are given a deadline to prepare a wedding banquet, and the manager's nephew is pushed onto the staff to complicate it. The whole thing is scored on kitchen equipment: knives, chopping boards, pans and water canisters played as percussion in the samulnori tradition. It premiered at Seoul's Hoam Art Hall in October 1997, was created by Song Seung-whan of PMC Production, and has become the longest-running show in Korean history.

No. There is no dialogue in the show at all, so there is nothing to translate and no subtitles or surtitles are used. The story is told through physical comedy, mime and rhythm, which is exactly why the show has toured more than fifty countries. Theatres do list English, Japanese and Chinese among their service languages, but that refers to booking and front-of-house help rather than to the performance itself.

Myeongdong if your dates or timings are at all constrained. It performs seven days a week, including 20:00 evening shows, and sits centrally on Myeongdong-gil, a short walk from Euljiro 1-ga station on Line 2 and Myeongdong station on Line 4. Hongdae lists a shorter week — Wednesday to Friday at 17:00, two shows on Saturday and one on Sunday — with nothing on Monday or Tuesday and no evening performance, and it is a five-minute walk from Hongik University station on Line 2. Beyond schedule and location, we would not claim one venue is better than the other.

The show runs about 90 minutes. Whether there is an interval is not something the theatres state clearly, so plan on a continuous 90 minutes and treat a break as a bonus if you get one. It is a brisk show either way — the deadline in the plot keeps the pace up throughout.

Distance from the stage, not a different performance. VIP seats are closest, on the lower level; A seats are furthest back. The more useful thing to know is that seats are allocated in the order bookings are made rather than when you arrive at the theatre, so if being close matters to you, book earlier rather than turning up early. The staging is broad and legible from the back, so the cheaper classes still work.

Yes, and the age policy is generous. Children are admitted from twelve months; those aged between twelve and thirty-five months go free; a ticket is required from age three. There is also a 30% student discount for ages three to eighteen. Because nothing is spoken, young children follow the slapstick and the drumming as easily as adults do — the comedy is visual and the rhythm carries it.

Only at the curtain call. Photography and recording during the performance are not permitted without prior consent. It is also worth knowing that if you arrive late, an usher will seat you and may place you in a different section from the one you booked, so being on time protects the seats you paid for.

No. The cooking is the performance, not a meal for the audience — the kitchen is the set and the ingredients are largely props and percussion. If you want to eat, do it before or after; the Myeongdong theatre in particular sits in one of Seoul's densest restaurant and street-food districts, so an early show at 17:00 followed by dinner works well.