Michelle Lim Davidson’s heartfelt playwriting debut is a story of inter-country adoption, imperfect motherhood, the search for home, and how we try to understand ourselves by understanding where we come from.

Koreaboo is set over one summer in Seoul. A year after meeting her birth mother for the first time, Korean adoptee Hannah (Davidson) has returned to spend more time getting to know her. But her Umma (Heather Jeong ) works every day, running the convenience store much like her own mother did. She seems to have little interest in bonding with her Australian daughter.

But as Hannah and Umma try to bridge gaps generational and cultural, they find common ground in popular culture: Umma watches Sex and the City to practise English; Hannah loves Korean pop music. The audience witnesses these two almost-strangers, mother and daughter, attempting affection and connection in their own ways, spiralling towards understanding and a tentative relationship built on real shared memories.

Heather Jeong and Michelle Lim Davidson in Koreaboo. Photo © Stephen Henry

Directed by Jessica Arthur, with dramaturg Julian Larnach, Koreaboo was first produced by Griffin Theatre Company in mid-2025 and developed through the Griffin...