Winnie Czulinski –
This much-loved sitcom about a corner shop run by a Korean-Canadian family is identified with the Moss Park neighbourhood in Toronto’s Downtown East. But earlier this year, store and story leapt from 252 Queen Street East to a record-breaking European stage premiere.
From January 8 to February 10, the sold-out London UK performance of Kim’s Convenience, produced by Adam Blanshay Productions at that city’s Park Theatre, took the show full circle, back to its live drama roots.
Korean-Canadian actor, writer, playwright and producer Ins Choi – who once worked for his uncle at ‘Kim’s Grocer’ store – wrote and produced a play, Kim’s Convenience. An award-winner at the 2011 Toronto Fringe festival, it launched Soulpepper Theatre Company’s 2012 season, and toured across Canada.
Adapted into a television series of the same name on CBC for five seasons, it became a Netflix global hit with its quirky humour, Canadian locale and cultural/social references. Ins Choi was a writer, executive producer and co-creator of the series.
Enter British commercial theatre producer Adam Blanshay. “I’m a superfan of the show, and watched it twice all the way through,” says Blanshay, originally from Montreal. After he cold-contacted Choi to discuss bringing it to London, they met for a meal in Toronto’s Koreatown – “and the rest is history.”
In the London stage play, Ins Choi played “Appa” (Korean for “father”), the role Paul Sun-Hyung Lee played in the TV series. Before that, Choi did a two-week run of the play last fall at the Grand Theatre, in Canada’s city of London.
The overseas record-breaker in early 2024 confirmed the Toronto show’s popularity. “London and the UK haven’t seen the last of Mr. Kim,” says producer Blanshay.
Why is it so popular? “It’s a universal story of family, love and redemption. Everyone relates to it no matter their culture or background. They see themselves and their families on that stage.”
