Kim’s Convenience at the Park Theatre – review

Source material for the highly successful Netflix comedy series of the same name, this play was first seen back in 2011 and now finally receives a belated European premiere.

Writer Ins Choi takes on the role of the titular protagonist, Mr Kim, known as Appa to his family. His Toronto shop is his castle, where he distributes observations and occasional insults alongside everyday essentials. Many of the harsher comments are aimed at his long-suffering daughter Janet (Jennifer Kim), who is, in her parents’ pointed words, “single and ready to mingle”.

The script is rather more serious than its small screen equivalent. There are certainly comic moments – such as when Appa instructs Janet in how to spot a shoplifter based on a ludicrous set of criteria (a solo lesbian is suspect, whereas two together are not) – but the family tensions are foregrounded. Chief among them is the absence of Janet’s brother, who fled following a violent altercation with his father.

Esther Jun’s production is well-paced, and unafraid of the silences that often fill the shop, which is beautifully rendered in Mona Camille’s hyper-realistic set. The ‘bing-bong’ of the electric door chime acts as a kind of metronome, announcing entrances and exits and punctuating the scenes like aural semicolons.

Miles Mitchell portrays an array of customers, from the smooth speculator offering to buy the shop due to some lucrative local development to policeman Alex who has a history – and, perhaps, a future – with Janet. It’s an impressive chameleon turn, and one of several eye-catching performances, notably Choi’s, who captures all of Appa’s flawed but deeply felt humanity.

It does feel narratively gappy, with Namju Go’s mother character sorely underutilised, especially at the end, which feels too neatly tied together based on what’s gone before. It’s also, to be frank, not quite as funny as the Netflix version, though certain scenes will be familiar to fans of the show. But it has heart and likability by the bucketload, and it’s easy to see why it has enjoyed such enduring success.

A polemical programme note by Vera Chok highlights the struggle of East and South East Asians (ESEAs) to breakthrough in British theatre. The fact Kim’s Convenience is a Canadian play perhaps only accentuates the point, but at least shines a welcome spotlight on the ESEA immigrant experience. Let’s hope we can see more of its kind on this side of the pond.