Non-verbal theatre is leaping language barriers into the hearts of people all over the world.

Easy to read they might be, but let’s face it, those surtitles at foreign-language plays are a pain in the neck—sometimes literally. Like a tennis spectator you move your head from side to side trying to keep up with the action, but often miss the point entirely.

Playing a different game altogether is non-verbal theatre, whose extraordinary dance moves, visual comedy, pulsating lighting effects and audience participation are becoming a big hit.

Non-verbal theatre came crashing to the world’s attention with the dancing drummers of “Stomp”, who thrashed everything from garbage bins to each other in Edinburgh, New York and London. “The Blue Man Group” followed, and shortly after, South Korea served up its own show, “Nanta”, a comic story about a bunch of overworked chefs that’s now one of Seoul’s top 10 tourist attractions.

The Koreans were also responsible for the high-kicking “Jump” and “Break Out”—kung fu and hiphop shows respectively—which Bangkok got a taste of last year.  

In Seoul now, there are also non-verbal shows called “Sa Choom”, dance musical with simple love triangle story with more variety of movement styles, and a hit named “The Ballerina Who Loves B-Boy”, with two apparently opposing dance routines on the same stage.

Following the same flight path is Japan’s Condors, an 11-member, all-male company that’s launching its “Conquest of Mars” in Kuala Lumpur before heading south to Singapore this weekend. Sorry, Bangkok is not in this itinerary.

The Condors use high-school uniforms, slapstick humour and overblown video imagery to take satirical shots at Japanese pop culture. Impressed by their bite in the Big Apple, New York Times raved, “An irrepressible, irreverent bunch of nicely ill-assorted sizes and presences, the men were impressive in their comic timing and knowledge of dance styles.”

A follow-up to their “Conquest of Jupiter”, “Conquest of Mars” is made up of short scenes comprising commercials, animation, straight theatre and dance. At first it seems to be a meaningless jumble, but the parts gradually kaleidoscope together to give the audience a colourful picture of the important things in life. 

And so, Thai producers, any ideas?

For more on “Nanta”, click to www.nanta.co.kr; “Sachoom” is at www.lovedance.co.kr; for “Condors”, www.condors.jp