Review: Swag Age in Concert (Gillian Lynne Theatre)

Review by Sam Waite

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Music can be its own unique form of storytelling, particularly unifying in its lack of need for words to be used, much less understood. While the likes of Les Mis have been translated to English for runs in the West End and Broadway, compositions themselves can carry such emotions, and vocal performances can convey such depth, that it’s often only the specific words lost in translation – themes, ideas, and especially feelings, transcend such barriers. So, it only makes sense that Swag Age, its libretto untranslated and its performance subtitled, came to make its international debut in its company’s native Korean.

Set within a fictionalised version of the Joseon Dynasty, Swag Age finds the citizen’s silenced by brutal leaders who have forbidden performances of Sijo, a form of poetry used to share stories or impart wisdom, compared by some to either Japanese haiku or to Shakespearean sonnets. Fearing the artform’s potential to spread the underhanded methods through which this regime came into effect, those in power have effectively silenced any who may contest them… enter the Golbin Gang. These masked rebels perform their Sijo where they can, and their peaceful protests gain new steam when orphaned Dan joins their midst, introducing modern ideas and non-traditional approaches through his own Siho performances.

On leaving the Gillian Lynne Theatre, I overheard another audience member excitedly compare Swag Age to the aforementioned Les Misérables, and the similarities between that West End mainstay and this one-off (for now) performance are numerous. Park Chan Min’s script introduces numerous characters and unites their disparate backgrounds into a fight for a freer, fairer future, and Lee Jeong Yeon’s score contains similarly evocative melodies. Where Swag Age differs is in the more musically adventurous nature of the work, Dan’s insistence on modernising Sijo adding hip-hop elements into the mix, and touches of K-Pop finding their way sonically and choreographically into the show.

  These sonic variations ensure that the concept of old vs new, of tradition vs modernity, comes through clearly whether or not you make the time to read as the lyrics are translated on screens mounted at either side of the stage. While the person or persons behind the translations must be commended for their making the show accessible to the London crowd, and especially for managing to make solid use of a common British insult (it starts with W and that’s all I’m giving you), the cast are often successful in translating their emotions through performance, and the invigorating musical numbers often carry enough humour or heartache to need only the loosest of explanations.

Surrounded by the atmospheric branches of the proscenium, a helpful leftover from the set of the current run of My Neighbour Totoro, this one-night production, billed as in Concert is closer to a full staging than this may suggest. Kim Eun Chong’s choreography is performed in full, and Lee Woo Hyung has crafted a lighting design that is simple enough to be operated within a borrowed venue, but creates some genuinely arresting visual moments. Aside from the borrowed branches there is no set to speak of, merely a handful of slightly raised platforms and a single chair. While I can imagine a sense of grandeur and scale brought to this imagined Joseon by a fully-fledged production, the passion on stage and the familiar themes meant that nothing was truly lost in a full set not being possible.

A company of fourteen performers ensure that Kim Eun Chong’s choreography fills the stage, and the melding of more traditional movement with modern, urban steps is truly effective. The vocal abilities on display are also very strong, and while I wouldn’t dream of praising or critiquing lyrics based off of a translation, the cast certainly made me feel certain that poetic declarations and witty remarks were plentiful throughout the score. A particularly funny moment finds a Sijo-performing trio take on the traditional form with a very non-traditional subject (flirtations with a eunuch, and no I won’t be elaborating) only to be told by a competition judge that, “the ending was weird,” while the audience hovered between giggling and stunned silence.

Leading the cast, though this is arguably an ensemble piece at heart, Yang Hee Jun is charming and exuberant as Dan, his boyishness an asset when he first finds himself face to face with the Golbin Gang, and his acting proving more measured when things become serious. His strong voice is also used to great effect, as both a traditional leading man and a more broadly comedic presence. The leading lady, who also introduced the performance with a stirring speech about her history with the West End stage, also shows powerful and emotive vocals, as well as nuanced acting which allows her to move between a regal, authoritative presence and a more youthful, wounded one.

The remainder of the cast were equally as strong, particularly as dancers. At one point, I nearly missed what the rest of the ensemble were doing, I was so captivated in having seen a cast member leap from the stage into the aisle to make his dramatic exit. While I do wish there had been more to the story of Jono (Oh Seung Hyun) and his complicity in crimes he lives in guilt over, and that the daughter-father connection between Jin and her father, Lim Hyun Soo as the King’s villainous right-hand man, had been deepened beyond the broader secrets kept, everyone was thrilling to watch and the overarching story did consistently excite me.

Joyful to watch, a clear project of unmitigated passion, and a performance that repeatedly had audience members gasping at the twists of the plot and the skills of its company, Swag Age was a welcome, if fleeting, addition to the West End. My sincerest hope is that we can all be reminded that there are so many pieces of media, so many works of art, beyond what we see in our everyday lives, and that work from other countries and cultures can be not just viable, but utterly vital.

Swag Age in Concert played at the Gillian Lynne Theatre for one night only on September 8th

For more information and to keep up to date with any future developments follow Swag Age on Instagram

Photos by PL Entertainment