‘Kim’s Convenience’ has been a huge hit on Netflix but it began life as a stage play. And now – what do you know! – that stage play is coming to Northern Stage this April and May.

‘Kim’s Convenience’ – the TV show – has been a real breakout phenomenon for Netflix, gaining itself a global audience along the way. But before it became a smash-hit sitcom, it was a play on the Toronto fringe. Ins Choi’s comedy drama concerned the ups and downs of a Korean Canadian family running a convenience store, but this new production takes everything that was good about the original play and adds some extra strands from the TV show. It’s a really joyous production that combines big laughs with a story that is heart-warming but never mawkish. Themes covered include the likes of immigration, parental sacrifice and the gap between the father Appa and his children (James Yi – who played Jimmy in the Netflix adaptation – stars as Appa this time round), but nothing is over-egged at the expense of the comedy. Cross pollinations often fall flat, but this stage production, which inspired the TV show, which further informed the updated stage production is bang on the money as evinced by its two hugely successful runs both in London and internationally.

Kim’s Convenience, Tuesday 29 April-Saturday 3 May, Northern Stage, Newcastle, 7.30pm (6pm on Wednesday), from £12, northernstage.co.uk