Hot Pot | Rotunda Theatre

Dates/Times/Venue/Location

Tue 30 June @ 7pm, BUBBLE - Langton Green

Wed 1 July @ 6:15pm, BUBBLE - Langton Green
Thurs 2 July @ 6:15pm, BUBBLE - Langton Green
Sun 5 July @ 2pm, BUBBLE - Langton Green

Hot Pot 火鍋 - Where memories boil

Four university friends reunite years later, at a hot pot restaurant, after the Covid pandemic. Over bubbling broth and shared plates, their laughter peels back memories of simpler days, first love and naive ideals. Conversation soon turns to the quiet divergences that time has carved: careers chosen and abandoned, families expected and resisted, compromises made for security and compromises refused in the name of being true.

Hot Pot is a tender examination of friendship and the small betrayals of adulthood. It traces the heartache of lost love, the friction between dreams and pragmatism, and the work it takes to remain authentic when the world insists otherwise. Warm, inquistive and rooted in East Asian perspectives, Hot Pot serves up a single night of conversation that explores gay identity with honesty and nuance, questioning what it means to belong to a place, society, partner, and one's true self admidst a queer-unfriendly environment.

 

This show was developed by funding from The University of Nottingham and UK Research and Innovation, Arts and Humanities Research Council.

 

Running time: 70min

Suggested for Age 16+ (Parental guidance suggested – Some material may not be suitable for children. Younger audience admitted on guardian discretion))

Warnings: This play contains partial nudity and reference to homophobia, racism and parental death.

 

REVIEWS

★★★★ TheatreWeekly

‘Strong writing, captivating performances...masterful storytelling... playwright Patrick Bao brings two of the most universal experiences to the stage: love and its partner, sacrifice.’

 

★★★★ Red Bus Londinium UK

‘A moving production that looks through a valuable cultural lens and genuinely welcomes you into it... without making non-East-Asian audiences feel they are being educated at rather than spoken to.’

 

Operation Live Theatre

'culturally sensitive, appropriate and stirring'

 

Once A Week Theatre

'a labour of love from the new production company Auka... so much care has gone into both the preparation and presentation that Hot Pot  is satisfying fare'

 

CREATIVES

Playwright: Hongwei Bao
Director: Namoo Chae Lee

Movement Director: Suyoung Park

Dramaturg: Ang Xiao Ting
Set & Costume Designer: TK Hay

Lighting Designer: Brett Kasza

Presented by Auka Productions Limited

CAST:  

Shin-Fei Chen as Mei

Struan Davidson as Ming

Windson Liong as Tao

Michelle Yim as Lin

CREW:

Stage Manager: Eddie Latter

Company website: www.aukaproductions.com