The Ongals: Babbling Comedy

THE ONGALS are an ensemble of four South Korean physical comedians who have been popular on the international comedy circuit and are a fantastic part of this year’s wonderful OzAsia Festival in Adelaide.

The show I saw was in front of a relatively full house that was essentially made up of families, parents and children, who were simply wooed and wowed by the brilliant virtuosity, skill, and sheer fun of The Ongals.

The show begins with just a bare stage on which in the middle is a small box with a label that says, ‘Toys’. The lights went down, and then went up, and then went down and up a few more times, to the bemusement of the audience, until finally three of The Ongals appeared. They were not satisfied with the audience response. In a hilarious opening sequence, we were told what to do and how to react – all clearly conveyed through babbling gibberish and physical gesture.

From a relatively passive audience at the beginning, by the end the audience was standing and cheering.

From the ‘Toy’ box The Ongals used everyday items, including balloons, air pumps, juggling balls and rings, plus whips with outstanding skill and hilarity. There was also some audience participation – often a terrifying experience – but in this case it was so much fun with the male adult dragged up on stage being cared for and teased and performing with The Ongals to marvelous effect.

The fourth member of The Ongals arrived late and sat in the audience until ordered on stage by the others. This was when the ‘beat box’ musical part of the show really kicked in, leading to a musical based climax in which (again) we, the audience, were a bit of disappointment to the outraged Ongals for our poor sense of timing.

Insulting the audience is always a tricky thing, but in this case it was simply brilliant, dazzling and extremely funny. Good physical comedy, especially when it jumps easily over any formal language limitation, is always wonderful to watch. In the case of The Ongals this is great physical comedy! Plus, by directly engaging with the audience, which is always unpredictable, we enter the all too rare ‘theatre of chaos’, in which past masters include our very own Roy ‘Mo’ Rene, who was born in Adelaide.

This is my last review for the OzAsia Festival. It has been truly terrific. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the OzAsia Artistic Director, Joseph Mitchell from the Adelaide Festival Centre for producing such a marvelous festival – an absolute triumph.

Tony Knight