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Gong show

Pauline McLean | 10:38 UK time, Friday, 15 August 2008

mrgong226x282.jpgThere are plenty of international performers on the Fringe - but few shows that are truly international.

But Mr Gong's Hair Salon, a mix of mime, slapstick and Korean romance, ticks all the boxes.

My three-year-old spotted them first - performing on the Royal Mile in oversized plastic masks, expressions unchanging so all emotions were communicated in the movement.

He's been nagging me ever since so we went along, and what a joy it was.

The audience is an eclectic bunch - Ben is far from the youngest, there's a baby behind us on his father's lap.

There's a deaf man a few seats along, whose friend signs the handful of words in the opening minutes of the show.

After that, she can sit back and relax - it's all mime and therefore accessible to everyone.

The company manager begins the show by joking about language barriers.

What do you call this, he says, brandishing a can of Pepsi. "Pepsi", I say, and the can is presented to me as a prize.

The three-year-old quickly cottons on and acquires a carton of orange juice and a biscuit.
mrgong226.jpg
But it's not just global brands and words which cross cultural barriers - but visual gags, like the bullfight that breaks out between Mr Gong and his lovestruck apprentice and the ticking box which is thrown from character to character - and out into the audience (sorry to the actor I hit on the head with aforementioned box!)

There's plenty of audience interaction as four energetic young actors/puppeters play 25 different characters.

Only at the very end, do we catch a glimpse of the slight sweaty and dishevelled players inside the costumes.

At an hour and 15 minutes, it's probably a little bit long, especially for the smaller members of the audience - but there were few complaints from the audience coming out.

Mackenzie Crook apparently saw it, and loved it, whether for its swashbuckling sword scenes or office politics, it's not yet clear.

And my three-year-old loved it too.

So much so, he's already asking to return.

No such luck, the company - the Dae Gu Metropolitan Theatre Company - are sold out to the end of their run on Saturday.

But keep your eyes peeled for them out and about on the Royal Mile.

This is also a record year for Korean shows - with 14 of them in Edinburgh this summer.

Since the hit show Cookin' came here in 1999, the Korean contribution to the Fringe has grown and grown.

There's even a not-for-profit organisation to assist companies who want to come to Edinburgh - the Korea Arts Management Service and this year they're sponsoring three shows - Mong Yeon (A Love in Dream), the Angel and the Woodcutter, and Junk Band Story ... Uh?! - who between them will share 30 million Won (about £15,000).

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