Written by Ins Choi
Directed by Esther Jun
Review by Greta Abbey
Kim’s Convenience, written by and starring Ins Choi, is a brisk and cheering eighty minutes that touches on themes of racial stereotypes, biases, and parent-child relationships. It is told through the lens of the Korean-Canadian Kim family. It focuses on the family patriarch, ‘Appa’ Kim (Choi), who runs the convenience store and has a strong desire to keep the store within the family as it is part of their story.
As director Esther Jun writes, the play asks the question, ‘What is my story- is it the story of my family?’ Her direction, in combination with the snappy humour of Choi’s script, drives this question forward. Appa tries to balance his ‘story,’ that of the store, with the ‘story’ and life his children want, specifically his daughter Janet. Janet is played by Jennifer Kim, and she desires her story to be greater than that of the store. This creates a distance between her and Appa, but since the distance is not literal (Janet is physically in the store with Appa more than any other character), this provides the basis for engaging back-and-forth dialogue. They explore the serious topics of racial stereotypes and ingrained biases but remain comedic and pithy despite the loaded subject matter. It may be that the play is simply too brief to delve more deeply, but the result is that, at times, it feels like it skates on the surface of topics that deserve to be mined. The play also leans into comedic ‘bits’, which tends to make the play feel a bit too much like a sitcom ( an apt comparison as the play inspired the Netflix situation comedy of the same name) with comedic sequences spliced and slapped together.
It is in these comedic moments, however, that Choi and cast member Miles Mitchell excel. Mitchell plays a rotating cast of characters, including Alex, Appa’s son Jung’s childhood friend and Janet’s long-term crush. Mitchell is a burst of energy onstage, and his buoyancy is a delightful contrast to Choi’s slower, more deliberate physical comedy. Choi deftly toes the line between comedic and sincere; you laugh along with his amusing, though somewhat backward, ideas about the different types of people who steal, yet are equally moved by his relationship with Janet (Kim) even when he is harsh or unkind. In contrast, Kim’s more poignant and emotive moments felt a bit disingenuous, and her relationship with Mitchell’s Alex comes off as somewhat forced and too reliant on the comedy.
Mona Camille’s set design and Jonathan Chan’s lighting are designed to recreate the fluorescent and boisterous environment of a convenience store precisely. The set and staging, contrasted with Choi’s unhurried physicality in the opening sequence, quickly establish the methodical rhythm of Appa’s daily life and, ultimately, the rhythm of the play. It also works to neatly bookend the play as Choi’s humorous, rhythmic actions are repeated by Jung (Edward Wu) in the closing scene. This cyclical ending leads the viewer to conclude that Jun has answered her question – each character’s story may be their own, but each story is connected within the framework of the family – a heartwarming conclusion, to be sure. At a time when shock and edginess have become part of mainstream entertainment, Kim’s Convenience feels a bit like a throwback but a heartfelt one, and frankly, a bit of a relief from the current trauma dump trend.
A Heartfelt Throwback
Kim’s Convenience runs at Riverside Studios, London, until October 26th
Running time – Eighty minutes without an interval
Review by Greta Abbey (contact@corrblimey.uk)
Greta recently graduated with a degree in English Language and Literature from the University of Edinburgh, where she spent a large majority of her time doing all things theatre, including acting, choreographing, and writing, as well as less artistic tasks such as delegating and bossing people around as the President of Shakespeare Society. Greta is deeply passionate about the performing arts, having trained as a professional ballet dancer with the Joffrey Ballet and studied acting and improv at Second City Chicago prior to attending university. She will continue her studies at LAMDA, where she is pursuing an MFA in professional acting.
