Sadly this absolute gem of a show, in a gem of a theatre (the Festival Studio), is sold out at the time of writing, but its qualities need to be recorded here for posterity.

Jaha Koo has created a piece of multi-media theatre that deserves one adjective more than any other. Bliss. He blends film, animation, storytelling, puppetry, and cooking with a striking South Korean soundtrack that’s absorbing from the get go.

We open on stunningly high definition aerial photography of Seoul projected onto a red-topped tent, before it descends to ground level and weaves us Google Streetview-like through the centre and then the backstreets of Seoul. We realise it’s not a tent, it’s a market stall; no, a small street food restaurant (a pojangmacha), closed for the night.

Koo walks on stage and opens his tiny little foodbar for business, readies his goods, then invites two audience members to join him for a free five-course meal that he cooks for them as the show progresses. It’s immediately disarming but utterly charming.

As he cooks he reveals his story through various media, including his own lovely, calming voice.  This is a man you would like to be friends with.

It’s essentially his relatively young life story but it’s really an essay about loneliness, or statelessness. He’s moved away from Asia seeking work, taking him to Berlin and then Brussels, but he’s on his own with only a snail he found in some cabbage (for the kimchi) for company.

He encounters isolation and racisim but he doesn’t rage against the machine. It’s not the Korean way, it would seem. Instead, everything about this show is calm, beautiful, considered. The technical excellence on display: direction (his own but ably aided by a dramaturg and assistants) lighting, sound, and music all appear to be sponsored by a panoply of European contributors.  It’s impressive.

We experience bloody, explosive kimchi, a cute-as-a-button animated singing snail, and insights into the history of South Korea – including the atrocities of war that traumatise his father.

Koo is a foreigner wherever he goes, almost even in his homeland when he returns after ten years.  He’s stateless, awash at sea. No soulmates. Like the eels that emerge from the Mariana Trench and find their way to Korea, but can’t go east or west because the salinity of neither suits them.  They too are all at sea.

But he can cook and he’s a beautiful human being. The audience will testify to this because as the show ends eveyone is invited to try out his pojangmacha.

Haribo Kimchi is at Studio Theatre until Mon 24 Aug 2026