You & It, playing at King’s Head Theatre, is set in 2034, but its questions already feel close to us. As AI becomes part of everyday life, it is easier to imagine technology that can replicate human behaviour, memory, and even emotion.
What if technology could bring back the person you loved the most? Would having their face, memories, and habits be enough to make them the same person? And if that recreation began to think and feel for itself, who would have the right to decide what happened to it?
Set in Daegu, Korea, in 2034, the musical You & It begins with a picture of a happy marriage. Foundry artist Gyujin (Zachary Pang) and ceramic artist Mina (Frances Mayli McCann) are expecting a child and enjoying their life and work together. However, their world is suddenly changed when Mina dies in a car accident. Unable to accept her death, Gyujin turns to AI technology to bring her back, commissioning a robot in Mina’s image with her memories and habits.
It seems to work for a while. Mina is home again. She remembers their shared past, prepares familiar meals, and falls back into the rhythms of their life together. The couple appears to have been given a second chance. But differences soon begin to show. The original Mina was clumsy, forgetful, and imperfect; yet her robotic counterpart is capable, quick to learn, and almost too perfect. Gyujin has brought back the woman he loved, only to discover that having Mina back is not the same as having the life they once shared.
Frances Mayli McCann and Zachary Pang lead the production as Mina and Gyujin, with Lucy Park as Mina’s understudy. Seoeun Oh provides the book and Q Lee the music, with Esther Jun directing and Amy Hsu as musical director. The production combines Korean visual elements with a near-future setting. Gyujin’s metal workshop occupies one half of the stage and Mina’s ceramics studio the other. Wooden surfaces, muted earth tones and windows inspired by traditional Korean latticework give the space a Korean character. Lines of light run through the centre, divide the two workshops and continue around the edges of the octagonal stage, adding a futuristic touch. At the centre sits an energy cube, which takes on a new role when Mina returns.
Despite the serious questions at its heart, You & It is also an entertaining musical. Seoeun’s book makes room for domestic comedy and playful exchanges between the couple, while Q’s music moves between quieter duets and lively ensemble-style numbers. A game of Go, for example, turns into one of the show’s most energetic sequences as Mina shows just how far her new abilities can go. These lighter moments give the audience time to enjoy Gyujin and Mina together before the mood shifts again.
Frances is at the centre of the production. She has the difficult task of playing both the Mina Gyujin remembers and the artificial being created from those memories, without resorting to obvious robotic movements or expressions. Her Mina is funny and affectionate, but small changes begin to appear as she learns more about herself and the world around her. Frances makes this change convincing, allowing us to see the robot becoming less like a copy of Mina and more like a person with her own identity. This changes the question at the heart of the story. It is no longer only about whether technology can recreate someone who has died. We begin to wonder whether this new Mina has become someone in her own right.
Zachary gives the other side of that conflict equal weight. Gyujin is delighted to have Mina back, but he also has to face the fact that the person in front of him is not quite the woman he remembers. He wants the familiar Mina, with all her memories, habits, and affection. But he struggles when this new Mina begins to move beyond the person he remembers. Zachary brings out Gyujin’s grief, frustration, and confusion without making him easy to judge. Bringing Mina back, as he discovers, does not bring his grief to an end.
From here, You & It moves into more difficult territory. If an artificial being can think, feel, make choices, and want a future, who has the right to decide what happens to it? The idea of ‘robot rights’ sounds almost like a contradiction, but the musical gives the question real weight. At what point does a machine stop being something that belongs to someone else?
The question also connects with Mina’s work as a ceramic artist. Objects can be repaired or replaced, and machines can be restarted. A human life is different. The Mina that Gyujin remembers was clumsy, made mistakes, and could be unpredictable. The robot seems to correct many of those flaws, yet her perfection only makes the differences clearer. The things that make us imperfect may also be part of what makes us who we are.
You & It is set in 2034, but its questions already feel close to us. As AI becomes part of everyday life, it is easier to imagine technology that can replicate human behaviour, memory, and even emotion. You & It takes that idea into the most personal part of our lives: love, grief and our desire to hold on to the people we have lost.
Beneath all this is a question about what it means to be alive. To live is to be imperfect. We make mistakes, change, laugh, grieve, and lose people we love. You & It reminds us how easily we can take all of this for granted, and that being alive, with all its imperfections, is something worth cherishing.
The final scene brings another change in tone and perspective. It is playful and funny, but also unsettling, giving the audience one last surprise before the story ends. It is best experienced without knowing more.
You & It is playing at King’s Head Theatre until September 26.
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