This award winning one act play by actor/playwright Ins Choi began life on the Toronto fringe in 2011. It was a major success, was picked up by Netflix, and has since run for five series. It is easy to see why. Large themes of immigration and integration are expressed through a fast-moving domestic drama, and the characters are so well defined that they quickly feel like friends. Ins himself left South Korea as an infant, and he has described his play as a love -letter to his family ‘and all first-generation immigrants who call Canada their home.’

It is a moving, heartfelt story, an intimate piece of theatre with quick fire dialogue and intense personal conflict. But while this touring production has strong performances from all five leads, it is hard not to feel that something fundamental is lost in the play’s translation from a small performing space to a traditional proscenium arch theatre. Even from the sixth row of the stalls, the drama feels curiously distant. To feel the play’s full impact, the audience needs to be closer to the action or even slumped on the sofa in front of its TV spin off.

Appa and his wife have built their Canadian lives around their flourishing convenience store and have high aspirations for their daughter Janet (Caroline Donica) and son Jung (Daniel Phung).  The children are a disappointment. Janet has spurned both a professional career and marriage, preferring to make her own way as a freelance photographer while helping out reluctantly in the store. Even worse, Jung, (Daniel Phung) disappeared aged sixteen after an episode of exceptionally brutal parental chastisement. It is never entirely clear why the beating occurred or whether Appa regrets it. But it is clear he longs for his son’s return. As he looks out over the audience, checking on illegally parked cars, it soon becomes apparent, that what he is looking for is Jung.

 James Yi is excellent as Appa and we feel the turmoil inside him, never quite able to cut himself off from his Korean roots. He reacts with outrage when his daughter wants to date an old school friend. But the depth of his love is clear and there are delicious comic moments as he insists on supervising and even directing the courtship. Caroline Donica has a wonderful new world swagger as she struggles to free herself from her parents’ suffocating protection.

Beyond the family, Andre Gichigi gives a tour de force of performances as Appa’s customers, sharply drawn personifications of the challenges faced by the long-suffering shopkeeper. The first infuriates Appa by calling him Japanese. The second is immediately recognised as a shoplifter. The third strikes to the heart of the family, and the drama, by offering to buy the store. The fourth falls in love with Appa’s daughter.

The set designed by Mona Camille gives a traditional corner shop interior with its sweets and crisps, drinks cabinet and toiletries. Condos are rising all around. A new Walmart is threatened. The big question is whether Kim’s convenience will go under or rise to the challenge of the changing retail landscape. The setting may be Korean- Canadian but it could be in any country, a spotlight on a much-lamented lost world.