On a cold January night, if you’re looking for some warm and cozy entertainment, Kim’s Convenience fits the bill admirably. The Park Theatre’s intimate stage has a homely feel. The scene, needless to say, is a convenience store, provisioned, as it happens, courtesy of New Malden’s Korea Foods. Audience members in the front row of the stalls can just about reach out and grab a packet of snacks from one of the displays.
The play’s action, apart from a very brief scene in the local Korean church, is set entirely in the store, and is essentially the story of a family. The characters are the father, Appa, and daughter, Janet, various customers and other visitors to the store (played by a single actor), plus the mother, Umma, and the prodigal son Jung. Those audience members who are familiar with the set-up from the TV adaptation should be aware that the original play has no scenes set in the car rental offices. For me, that’s a plus, as we therefore avoid the awkwardness of the relationship between Jung and the glamorous female boss. In the play, we see very little of Jung.
The setting for the play is downtown Toronto, although it could be any city. While the plot centres on the immigrant experience, there are plotlines which are universal, for example the urban redevelopment and likely encroachment of big corporations which will one day put Kim’s Convenience out of business and drive the last Korean church out into the suburbs.
Umma summarises the family’s backstory well in her encounter with Jung at church:
You Appa was teacher in Korea. He was very good teacher. Student all love him. We have lots of friend. We have very good life in Korea. Then we coming to Canada. But he can’t be teacher here. His English is very … no good. We get store. And he work every day. No weekend, no time off, no vacation, always have to be open, no retirement. Why? Why is he doing like that? For you. For you and Janet. He is choosing like that for you. (Scene 15)
That experience could apply to many immigrant families. Choi gives the script a Korean flavour by emphasising the importance of the church in the family’s life (remember Lee Isaac Chung’s movie Minari?) and adding a comic dose of anti-Japanese resentment.
Choi captures perfectly some of the idiosyncrasies of language displayed by Koreans when speaking English in a way that feels affectionate; if written by a white native English speaker the script would feel problematic. Probably more problematic for some is where Appa shares with Janet his views on how to identify potential shoplifters based on skin colour, body mass, gender, sexual preference and clothing style (“that is so awkwardly racist,” rebukes his daughter) though the tone is lightened as Kim describes ever more complicated scenarios. (“Fat white guy is steal. Fat guy is black, brown shoes, that’s no steal. That’s cancel-out combo.”). In fact we learn that while Kim has his prejudices (which he calls “survival skills”) he is fine with his daughter dating Alex, and he commends the African American customers of a Korean store in LA for defending that store during the 1992 riots.
The warmth of the play derives from the father-daughter relationship. Both are strong characters and there are the normal father-daughter tensions. Janet resents the chores she has had to perform over the years, but on the other hand expects her father to make sacrifices for her: “you’re the parent. You’re supposed to.” In a comedic climax to this particular argument Janet submits a bill for her years of unpaid labour, only to have it whittled down by counter-demands for reimbursements for school trips, piano lessons and the like.
Ins Choi has graduated from writing the play and appearing as the son of the family in its first run in Toronto, and now takes the central role of Appa. Even as he shuffles wordlessly around the stage at the start of the play, making himself a cup of Maxim with extra sugar, and setting up the store for the day, he has the audience’s full attention. The director, Esther Jun, has also been living and breathing the play for a long time, having played Janet in the original production in 2011. Miles Mitchell acquits himself well in the various roles he has to play – from Janet’s love interest to shoplifter via real estate speculator – and has to execute a number of quick costume changes. Jennifer Kim as Janet is a strong counterweight to Kim.
The play lasts for 80 minutes without interval and will have you laughing and also trying to stifle the tears. You’ll also get the chance to try out how good your Korean is, as there is a small amount of dialogue in Korean between Umma and Appa. The lack of surtitles is not a problem as the dialogue does not have any key plot points, and highlights how, when on their own, the two are naturally more comfortable communicating in their native tongue.
Altogether a highly recommended evening out.
Kim’s Convenience is at the Park Theatre until 10 February. LKL attended on press night, 12 January, courtesy of Fourth Wall PR. Book tickets here.
Links:
- Kim’s Convenience writer Ins Choi: ‘I want a broad audience to see Asians as normal people’, Áine Kim Kennedy interviews Ins Choi in the FT, 8 January 2024