Kim's Convenience
Ratings2
Average rating4
A brand new edition of the smash-hit play, now a wildly popular CBC TV series. Mr. Kim is a first-generation Korean immigrant and the proud owner of Kim’s Convenience, a variety store located in the heart of downtown Toronto’s Regent Park neighbourhood. As the neighbourhood quickly gentrifies, Mr. Kim is offered a generous sum of money to sell — enough to allow him and his wife to finally retire. But Kim’s Convenience is more than just his livelihood — it is his legacy. As Mr. Kim tries desperately, and hilariously, to convince his daughter Janet, a budding photographer, to take over the store, his wife sneaks out to meet their estranged son Jung, who has not seen or spoken to his father in sixteen years and who has now become a father himself. Wholly original, hysterically funny, and deeply moving, Kim’s Convenience tells the story of one Korean family struggling to face the future amidst the bitter memories of their past.
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I started to read this because I'm a regular viewer of the Kim's Convenience TV series, and I want to start by saying that the two are very different from each other. This makes a lot of sense given the very different media that they were created for, but it's worth noting.
Kim's Convenience is simultaneously heart-breaking and heartwarming, darkly funny while still being at times melancholy. Ins Choi does a fantastic job of balancing those emotions and the tension that is created by trying to be both at the same time. In the introduction to the play, Ins Choi makes a comparison to Death of a Salesman, and that's a very apt comparison - both plays look at aging men, the legacies they try to build, and the ultimately devouring nature of capitalism.
It's tough. Like reviewing Hey Jude with nothing more than the lyrics. The play's the thing! After reading it I'm more than a little disappointed to find it just finished it's run in London Ontario. I can only hope someone mounts it again nearby.
The play, not unlike the Korean variety store it's set in, crams so much into such a tiny space. Parental expectation, xenophobic bias, forgiveness, immigrant Korean's roots in the Christian community and, with the convenience store, the community at large. And while I agree with reviewer that says “it could be accused of sacrificing truth to reconciliation” I understand the motive. It's hilarious, heartfelt and it can't help but make me think of my own folks.
