"Kim's Convenience" by Ins Choi

Derby Theatre.

You may recognise this from the Netflix comedy series, but I haven't seen it, so this is my first experience of "Kim's Convenience". The play has had hugely successful runs both in London and internationally, and now it's at Derby Theatre. It all started back in 2011 when the original stage drama premiered at the Toronto Fringe. 

The play is about a family-run Korean store and is written by Ins Choi, who calls the play his "love letter to his parents and to all first-generation immigrants who now call Canada their home." Appa was a teacher back in Korea but when they moved to Toronto, his English was not good enough to continue teaching so they bought a convenience store and built up the business, but now the area is due to get a new Walmart - that's Asda to you and me - and Appa is offered a good price to sell the store, but he wants Janet to take over the running of the store, something that she doesn't want.

Appa’s kids Janet and Jung are now adults. Born in Canada they both worked at the store while growing up. Janet is a photographer with different values to her father, while Jung is conspicuous by his absence, estranged from his family, the explanation is given in the play.

James Yi is Appa, aka Mr Kim, who gives out both advice as well as insults, as well as training his daughter in how to spot "steals" which involves a lot of racist stereotyping. He just doesn't understand why Janet doesn't want to take over the business that he has worked so hard to build up.

Caroline Donica plays Janet, who has her own dreams and ambitions, and tries to convey these to her Father, but Janet is a modern woman and doesn't want to run the store. She wants to fall in love, and that becomes a reality when someone who she had a crush on when she was young comes back into her life.

Daniel Phung plays Jung, the son. He has been meeting up with his mother at church and has built himself a new life with a partner and they have a son, but he is not happy with his dead end used car salesman job. Towards the end of the play, he returns to the shop and makes amends with his father, one of the highlights of the play.

Andrew Gichigi is Alex, Rich, Mr Lee and Mike; various characters who enter the shop for various reasons. It's the part of Alex, the police officer who is there to answer a call regarding the illegal parking of Mr Lee, who makes the offer to buy Appa out, that is Andrew's main role. Janet had the crush on him when he was younger, plus he is Jung's best friend at school, and neither Appa nor Janet knew that he was back in the area. It's quite sweet, the reconciliation. 

Candace Leung plays Umma, wife to Appa and mother to Janet and Jung. The main comedy with Umma is a physical comedy, but the scene at church with Jung is a lovely softer scene.

Directed by Esther Jun. The balance between the comedy scenes and the more serious messages regarding immigration are well observed and balanced. The racist stereotyping scene does feel a little uncomfortable, nor did I find it comical either. there were a few scenes where Korean was spoken, so unless the audience knew the language, I did feel that these scenes were of no use. As I didn't understand the language, I had no idea if what they were saying was of importance to the play.

Mona Camille’s set looks as if it has been lifted from a real convenience store and on to the Derby Theatre stage. I love a play that has plenty of props so the set design was a joy to run my eyes over. Part of the shop transformed into the church scene which was good use of the set section.

Adrienne Quartly’s sound design is good with the electronic door chime sounding every time anyone entered or exited the shop, off stage.

The lighting design is by Jonathan Chan, but the operator was just a bit eager with the blackout as one scene left the actors in the dark still speaking. The blackout scene should have been just before the church scene to give cover for the scene change.

It's not a long play - lasting just seventy five minutes, and I love that they decided to not include an interval, keeping the flow of the play intact. I don't know if I would have enjoyed the play more had I head seen the Netflix series prior to the stage play. There were sections that I found comical, but I don't think this is one that I'd rush back to see again, I'm afraid to report.

If you're a fan of the Netflix show, you'll probably "get" the humour and enjoy the stage play.

"Kim's Convenience" is at Derby Theatre until Saturday 22 March.