I am a huge fan of the Netflix series Kim’s Convenience, so when I saw it was being performed in the Courtyard Theatre at Leeds Playhouse, I just had to see it. I hadn’t realised that it had been a theatre production first and was developed into the TV series later.
The play and the TV series is about a Korean family who own a convenience store in Canada.
The set looked great – it was so well decorated I felt like I was in the store myself. Lots of interesting little details on the shelves and walls helped to bring the audience into the shop.
Mr Kim is one of my favourite characters of all time, so I was a little worried that James Yi would not live up to what I expect from “Appa” (“father” in Korean) but I needn’t have worried. James played him perfectly – he is the family patriarch and can be very stubborn. Mr Kim has all sorts of funny ideas – among them how you can tell if a person is a shoplifter – a system he calls Steal or No Steal. The relationship between him and his daughter Janet, played by Caroline Donica, is in turns hilarious and sometimes a little sad.
The interactions between Mr and Mrs Kim were in Korean and I found it really interesting that the director or playwright chose to do this. I felt it made the communication authentic and it was fascinating to me that I could still get the gist of what was being said as it related to the context of a previous scene.
When Mr Kim ‘supervises’ his daughter’s romance, the laughter from the whole audience was electrifying. And when there were some more somber and heartfelt moments, you could feel how this affected everyone watching. I felt the light and shade played out really well throughout the performance.
The play lays out Mr Kim’s experience as a man who emigrated to Canada to start a new life for his family. It explores themes of the immigrant experience; coming to terms with modern life; family relationships and the legacy a person leaves behind and more.
Some of the scenes were laugh out loud funny; I am not a sentimental person but it also brought me close to tears twice.
I wondered whether I would be able to work out how I would have felt about the play if I hadn’t been a fan of the TV show. This was difficult to do, but I’ve come to the conclusion that I would have still loved the play. It made me laugh, it nearly made me cry, it made me think.
The play was written by Ins Choi, who describes the play as a “love letter to his parents and all first-generation immigrants who now call Canada home.” Despite some of the difficult content, Mr Kim’s inability to express his feelings to Janet and a family rift – the play does feel like a love letter. I would thoroughly recommend going to see Kim’s Convenience at Leeds Playhouse and if you don’t get the chance, you can watch the TV show instead. As Mr Kim would say, “OK! See you!”
Kim’s Convenience runs at Leeds Playhouse until Saturday (15 March 2025). Full details and tickets at: www.leedsplayhouse.org.uk/event/kims-convenience
This post was written by reader Hazel Millichamp in return for two free tickets, as part of South Leeds Goes To The Playhouse.
Photo: Casey Ford
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