Jaha Koo invites us into the story of his ‘home’ in a work that blends poetic, vulnerable storytelling with striking visuals and sound media. Haribo Kimchi is a hilarious, intimate and mouth-watering take on what it means to emigrate, assimilate and find solace in unfamiliar places.
Presented as part of Perth Festival for a short season at Studio Underground at the State Theatre Centre in Northbridge, the show combines multimedia theatre with audience interaction and live cooking.
Koo invites two willing audience members to dine at his onstage pojangmacha, a late-night snack bar common to the streets of South Korea, where he grew up. As the rest of us watch them eat freshly made, culturally significant dishes, Koo shares personal anecdotes of his childhood, South Korean culture, travel, and kimchi.
The show is captivating, rich with electronic music, absurd videos, robotics, voiceovers and more, questioning the meanings of home and belonging.
Koo’s use of physical and digital techniques is both intricate and playful. South Korean EDM pulses throughout the space as zoomed-in videos of peculiar subjects seem to dance along.
A singing snail and Haribo gummy bear appear as unexpected characters, pulled from stories of his past. English subtitles appear on a screen above the set as the storytelling shifts between Korean voiceover and Koo’s live narration.
He cooks Kimchi pancakes, seaweed soup and somaek (soju and beer) and, at times, the subtle aroma of the dishes fills the theatre. Each of these unusual techniques contributes to very elaborate and detailed world-building.
As Koo cooks, he shares personal anecdotes that are innately human and layered. Smells become a recurring motif. In his stories, they are a source of solace and comfort, but they are also triggers for isolation and racism. He demonstrates that when emigrating, people often cook the dishes they grew up eating to carry familiarity into unfamiliar places.
Koo speaks to the physical and emotional strain of assimilating to a new culture; the way the weather, food and language create unnoticed tension that permanently reshapes you.
Thus, upon returning home to South Korea after ten years abroad, Koo finds it unfamiliar. Home is no longer one fixed location. ‘Routes are more important than roots’ appears on the screen in a quietly profound moment, and ‘My home has no location.’ He emphasises the difference between ‘routes’ and ‘roots’ in shaping who you are and what home means to you.
These sincere moments are balanced with moments of light-hearted humour, toying with our emotions. The audience can’t help but laugh at the absurdity of a glowing robotic eel wiggling across the stage.
Visually, the show is striking. Vibrant colours, zoomed-in moving imagery, and strategic blocking make for a kind of satisfying asymmetry. Everything is carefully placed, yet natural.
Despite the multimedia and heavy use of technology, the performance feels refined. It is simple, yet profound; individual, yet totally relatable. Haribo Kimchi is full of Koo’s charismatic personality.
As someone who moved around a lot growing up, the overarching theme of the show deeply resonated with me. I imagine it would resonate with anyone who doesn’t have a clear, singular idea of ‘home.’ It is comforting in that way.
For Jaha Koo, home isn’t a place but a journey and an accumulation of all the life-altering experiences and routes he chose to take.
In Haribo Kimchi, we, as the audience, have the privilege of hearing his witty and poetic take on the story of his home, which challenges the notion that home is where you’re born or spend the better part of your life.
For many, immigrants especially, this narrative fails to capture all parts of who they are. Koo invites us to believe that ‘home’ is something within us; it is all the parts of us that make us whole.
Haribo Kimchi runs to 22 February at Studio Underground, State Theatre Centre of WA as part of Perth Festival. 174/176 William Street Perth WA 6000.
Tickets: https://www.perthfestival.com.au/program/season-2026/haribo-kimchi
Website: https://gujaha.com/haribo-kimchi-2024
Socials: https://www.instagram.com/perthfest/ and https://www.instagram.com/jaha_koo/
Hero image: Bea Borgers
