REVIEW: Kim’s Convenience starring Ins Choi skilfully sews together the past and present
On opening night of Kim’s Convenience, as the Grand Theatre’s red curtains rose up to reveal Julia Kim’s marvellous set design, the crowd promptly erupted into spontaneous applause. The detail and the realism of designer Kim’s store design was truly momentous. Did it look exactly like the set of the CBC TV show many have come to know and love over the years? Not exactly. But it did offer a shockingly delightful likeness to the ordinary Canadian corner store that many of us see as an important marker of our daily lives. Kim’s design hit just the right tone for the play’s opening moments, reminding audiences that our every day is worth celebrating, right down to the last Bounty chocolate bar.
Because Ins Choi’s play has a healthy production history on stages across Canada and a successful run on television as a popular sitcom, finding a unique way of presenting this contemporary classic is a tall task. Ultimately, it’s the two main artists at the helm of the Grand’s production that mark this as an important moment in this play’s production history. Playwright Choi himself takes on the lead role of Appa, the owner-operator of the store. Esther Jun, who played Appa’s artistic daughter Janet in the original production, now leads the team as the play’s talented director. By including Choi and Jun in these new roles, the Grand’s production manages to bring audiences back to this play’s inception and highlight its impressive journey over the years. I love that these choices remind Canadian audiences that theatre created in this country has the potential to cultivate its own lore.
I was one of the lucky ones who saw the original Toronto Fringe production way back in 2011, and the buzz that year was palpable. I remember getting emails from friends and colleagues with tips about how to try to sneak into the packed, sold out houses at the Randolph Theatre. Now, all these years later, Esther Jun has gone on to become a stage director of some renown and the play’s life beyond the Fringe is the stuff of Canadian theatre legend. I suspect that audiences will pack the Grand to see this well-executed new production.
Choi is radiant as Appa, delivering on the audience’s desire to spend a little time with their favourite world-weary, hard-working immigrant father with a heart of gold. Choi masterfully hits all of the play’s snappy jokes (he did write them after all!), but what stands out is the humanity in his performance. Appa’s emotional vulnerability can sometimes get lost in the laughter of other productions, but Choi ensures this story’s patriarch has a wonderfully complex inner life. That’s the strength in this retelling overall. The extra time the piece takes to slow down the sitcom speed allows for the family’s complexities to emerge.
It’s been mentioned before but certainly bears repeating in 2023 that Kim’s Convenience is a play with jokes heavily reliant on racial stereotyping. As Jun says in one Grand promotional video, “Kim’s Convenience is a love letter to immigrant parents,” and the play doesn’t shy away from the generational and cultural clashes embedded in their experiences. At times it’s difficult to know whether the audience is laughing with or at the culturally specific quips, but ultimately this production admirably balances out the broad humour with complex human emotions. This is helped by strong performances by Emeka Agada and Kelly J Seo, who find success in performing both the humour and the humanity as the story’s young lovers Alex and Janet. While Appa’s wife Umma and son Jung have very little stage time in the play (in contrast to the sitcom, where they are leading characters), Vicky Kim and Leon Qin capably round out the cast. Jareth Li’s evocative lighting design midway through the story reveals another world hiding in plain sight throughout the rest of the show.
It is in this balance that we also see director Jun’s steady hand. She ensures the jokes land and that the audience gets to see the important moments of growth throughout each character’s journey. In productions such as Little Women and Les Belles Soeurs at Stratford, Jun has revealed a rare talent for getting that difficult balance expected between the past and present just right. Here she manages to both satisfy the original mega-fans and give new audiences something to cheer about. She nurtures the existing love people have for a work’s past life and asks what this work says to audiences in this specific moment in time.
With a strong production like this, it’s easy to see how Choi’s play has managed to continue entertaining audiences for over ten years.
Kim’s Convenience runs at the Grand Theatre in London until Saturday, November 4th. Tickets are available here.
Intermission reviews are independent and unrelated to Intermission’s partnered content. Learn more about Intermission’s partnership model here.
Taylor Marie Graham
Taylor Marie Graham (she/her) is a Dora nominated writer, theatre artist, and educator living in Cambridge, ON / Haldimand Tract. At the University of Guelph, she holds an MFA in Creative Writing and is currently a Doctoral Candidate writing an analysis of the Blyth Festival Theatre. Both Taylor’s artistic and academic work often explores rural feminisms and the decolonization of bodies in space. www.taylormariegraham.com
LEARN MORE
iPhoto caption: A Christmas Story production still by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: A Christmas Story feels fresh at Theatre Aquarius
If you want to catch A Christmas Story before it closes, good luck — the show is close to sold out, and with the talent on that stage, it’s not hard to see why.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Danelle Jane Tran.
REVIEW: Yes, Holiday! An Improvised Musical really is different every night
Putting aside its opening number and a single proper noun, every word of Bad Dog Theatre’s Dora Award-nominated Holiday! An Improvised Musical has the potential to change from performance to performance.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: Canadian Stage revives the Ross Petty panto with pop songs, puns, and a pinch of Ozdust
Making a case for the panto’s return, The Wizard of Oz is full of local references and charm, and perhaps even some surprise guests to fill audiences with hometown pride.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Marie-Andree Lemire.
REVIEW: Titaníque loves Céline Dion with all its heart
Content quibbles aside, Titaníque’s inarguable accomplishment is musical: What an amazing showcase for a Canadian cast’s vocal chops and capacity to deliver character through song.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Ben Laird.
REVIEW: Twelve Days brings Christmas joy to lunchtime in Calgary
Watching Twelve Days is reminiscent of opening up the door to a chocolate advent calendar: yes, you know what you’re gonna get, but heck if you don’t enjoy every second of it.
iPhoto caption: Production still by Dahlia Katz.
REVIEW: The Sound of Music is enchanting at London’s Grand Theatre
Even after an umpteenth viewing of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein’s classic, the material still feels fresh under Rachel Peake’s direction.
iPhoto caption: Video still courtesy of the Grand Theatre.
REVIEW: In One Step At A Time, Andrew Prashad unpacks disability through tap dance
Prashad’s play is undeniably impactful and advocates for the spina bifida community with great passion and joy.
REVIEW: You’d have to be a grinch not to like Lighthouse Festival’s Jack and the Beanstalk
You’d have to be a real grinch not to like this take on Jack and the Beanstalk, a panto perfect for Port Dover and Port Colborne.
iPhoto caption: Photo by Dahlia Katz
REVIEW: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the Grand Theatre exudes whimsy and warmth
Quibbles on music and class aside, this production is beautifully conceived, and a very enjoyable night out with friends and family this holiday season.
REVIEW: Grand Ghosts at The Grand Theatre
Grand Ghosts’ score is bone-chilling from the first note to the last.
iPhoto caption: Academia or creation — the age-old question. Image: Aisling Murphy.
Both jobs require strong communication and storytelling. Both fill me with a sense of meaning in a difficult world, and the more I dissect them, the less I am able to find where one ends and the other begins.
Comments