Tickets were gifted in return for an honest review
Entering the auditorium, Kim's Convenience (store) is right there. A brilliant set filled with all the classic corner shop paraphernalia, bringing alive the show before a single word is uttered.
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| Photo by Danny Kaan. |
When the show does begin, it's a quiet and understated start. A Mr Kim enters, humming to himself, makes a coffee, brings in the morning newspapers, turns the lights on...
This build up was lovely, but when the dialogue began, it was too quiet. I was twelve rows back and although I could hear everything, it was hard, which was a real shame as the writing of this piece is very good, and often clever. Giving a voice by misleading dialogue of getting language wrong, learning - in one hour fifteen minutes - a depth of emotions not only from Mr Kim, but his whole family.
The struggle to find a place called home and a better life for your loved ones by making yourself an alien is a subject I'm sure everyone can relate to...although here, some more than others. By humanising this one small family, the writer puts a face to the wider blank faces of so many. It is really brilliant writing and story-telling.
The direction often felt unnatural, with actors talking 'out' to the audience and not to each other during conversations, but this was obviously a very deliberate choice. The music at the play's start felt like an old Sega Megagame soundtrack, and the slightly false way of the actor talking out all gave it a feel of a 1990s American sitcom.
Mr Kim (Appa) was performed by the playwright himself, Ins Choi. He completely embodied the main character. The range of subtle changes in his performance was really joyous to watch. The stern fish-out-of-water to the know-it-all Dad, and then the lost father trying to show that he loves his children but not managing to do so.
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| Photo by Danny Kaan |
Appa's daughter, Janet was played by Jennifer Kim. At times showing great comedy, especially in her flirting badly scene, but at times, the performance felt over-acted. Where Ins Choi always felt embedded in reality despite being 'big' for most of the show, I just didn't feel the same with Jennifer Kim.
Her flirting scene was played with Miles Mitchell who was a lovely multi-roller, playing Rich, Mr Lee, Mike and Alex. My only issue was it felt there wasn't enough variation between all the characters, especially the first two. But his old friend of the family and the newly divorced policeman were really very endearing.
Both Miles and Jennifer played their scene together with a real warmth. It was a very nice scene.
The last two actors were Namju Go who was Umma - Kim's wife, and Edward Wu playing Jung, their estranged son. Both of these actors were the most guilty of not using projection. This being made worse by their scene together, which was played right at the front of stage and still lost. Their scene had a nice set movement, changing the store into a temporary church. There was a case of over-acting here too with Namju Go, especially when telling her daughter she was going to church. It just didn't work for me.
Edward Wu had a really nice down-to-Earth part. He's the long-lost son who stole money from the family and ran away, and now lives with regrets, only remembering his past glories. There is also a nice symmetry here with his Dad. Who has, it seems, started to think about what he'll be remembered for. It was a very real persona in a show of stereotypes and (often) cartoonish characters.
It felt like a safely directed show. The niceness of the set change from shop to church, the opening being a quiet amble, the flashback scene coming out of the church and then into the modern day was very clever and very well executed. But as I've already said, too many times for me, it felt like actors were in different styles of theatre.
Ins Choi also wrote the show. At times, it was great, but my biggest problem was the scene between the son and mother. Where she tells him about the offer to buy the shop. When the son returns back to the shop, it leaves a really big question of is it for greed or because he loves his family? This may be a deliberate choice of the writers and if so, then I'd probably question that too? If it was not deliberate, then it definitely needs revising.
When I left Riverside Studios questioning what I thought of Kim's Convenience...I was in a quandary. I didn't dislike it, but I certainly didn't love it. At times I laughed out loud, really feeling for Kim - a father lost in so many ways. But I also felt a little ambivalent to the show as a whole.
Kim’s Convenience plays at Riverside Studios in London until Saturday 26th October 2024. Tickets are available from https://riversidestudios.co.uk/see-and-do/kims-convenience-120980/
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| Photo by Danny Kaan |
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