Kim’s Convenience, Riverside Studios review

A sitcom-style highlight reel of Ins Choi’s best moments, brought together in a hilarious and heartwarming performance exploring immigration, community and family values.

Kim's Convenience at the Park Theatre. By Ins Choi. Directed by Esther Jun. Photo by Mark Douet.

Canadian Ins Choi’s award-winning play Kim’s Convenience, which inspired a hit Netflix comedy adaptation of the same name, is back in theatres this Autumn with a brief stint at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith.

The sitcom-style comedy drama follows Mr Kim, a first generation Korean-Canadian convenience store owner, and his second generation children, as they navigate the growing division between their values and ambitions against the backdrop of neighbourhood gentrification and uncertainty around the future of their store.

Each character is well-drawn and the script plays to many of the themes familiar to immigrant families: daughter Janet’s (Jennifer Kim) photography career is misunderstood and maligned by Mr Kim as a hobby, and her lack of a boyfriend the topic of much question and debate. Absent son Jung (Edward Wu), who rebelled against the family patriarch in search of an independent life at 16, is now haunted by his own frustrated ambitions. Choi himself takes on the role of Mr Kim, which is brilliantly written – hilarious, outspoken, and at times prejudiced, he is a loveable yet endlessly frustrating patriarch.

It is only Mrs Kim (Namju Go) who feels a little thin. She exists to augment the stories of her husband and children, and beyond a brief subplot about the future of her church in the face of wealthy developers taking over the community, we learn little of her own experience of leaving Korea for a new life in America.

Kim's Convenience at the Park Theatre. By Ins Choi. Directed by Esther Jun. Photo by Mark Douet

Mona Camille’s set design brings the whole play together. It feels as though we have been invited into Mr Kim’s store, complete with imported drinks and snacks from Korea, tall coolers bursting with fizzy drinks and cupboards behind the counter hiding cigarettes and scratchcards from view. There is even a Kim’s Convenience inspired stall in the foyer of Riverside Studios offering kimbap (seaweed roles) and instant noodles to the audience.

Choi’s script is fast-paced and funny, and each of the characters have their own engaging storylines, so it feels somewhat abrupt when lights go down after only a little over an hour. We are left with unfinished stories and questions around the future of the Kim family – perhaps a testimony to the fact that it ran to five series on Netflix.

When prodigal son Jung returns to the store there is an initial sense of resolution shown in the strength of family ties and connection to his Korean heritage. However, it feels too easy, as though Choi is wrapping the up story with a neat bow. This is episodic theatre, too constrained by the parameters of a thirty-minute series to dig much below the surface – but its punchy writing and feel-good nature makes for an enjoyable night out.

Kim’s Convenience is playing at Riverside Studios until 26 October 2024. Find out more and buy tickets here.

 Words by Ellen Hodgetts