The Hot Wing King - NT

I saw the first preview on Thurs. Left at intermission. Zero interest in cooking so that didn't help but the acting and plot didn't do it for me so I just wasn't having any fun. I spend a lot of time in the US so I'm probably a bit spoiled for content (plus I can't handle sloppy accents). Very slow first act like Skeleton Crew. But audience seemed quite pleased with it.

Was it good?

Saw this tonight, and LOVED the characters, while LIKING the plot.

The problem with the plot for me was that I could feel the organ grinder cranking the plot forward one step at a time, whereas, in say, "Red Pitch" (another all black male ensemble considering issues of black masculinity), it was all a bit more seamless.

On the other hand, with straight and gay characters rubbing shoulders, and some zinging dialogue, this achieves a lot of what Ryan Calais Cameron's "For Black Boys who have Considered. . ." achieved, allowing for refreshing, authentic and affectionate depictions of black masculinity that you don't see so much in mainstream TV, with added plot providing added angles of entry into the characters' worlds.

The characters are the thing, primarily!

Some spoilers follow. . .

Although a side character, and to a degree, less involved in dramatic plot developments than some other characters, Olisa Odele's Isom was by far the funniest character for me, with most of the one-liners and a pitch perfect energised way of timing their delivery. His description of some uber hot peppers smuggled in from Uganda as "SNEAKY peppers" that he could use for self-defence "when the ALIENs" attack had me laughing out loud, for example, and he has a line a minute when he's on stage. He even made me laugh with mere vocalisations when tasting the hot wings.

Plot progression is slow and life-like, by and large, like in "Skeleton Crew," but it is more clunky here than there, with scenes having the feel that they are advancing plot points rather than that the plot points flow naturally, as in the Donmar play.

Bringing the principal plot drama is Dwayne Walcott's very successful characterisation of a bad father trying to be a good father. He also brings the homophobia, which has it's own dramatic implications.

As his son, Everett, who prefers to live with his gay uncle than his straight father, Kaireese Denton is wonderfully enigmatic, and walks a fascinatingly fine line between the world of his father and uncle.

The Uncle, Simon-Anthony Rhoden's Dwayne, who has the most successful job, a hotel manager, is definitely one of my favourite characters in this show, subverting the usual trope that successful people are stereotypical one-upping posturing villains. He's quiet, complex, and at one point, Rhoden sings super sweetly as well.

Kadiff Kirwan plays Dwayne's partner, Cordell, who has left his wife and kids to be more authentically himself. He has sublimated all his desires into trying to win a food competition, and Kirwan winningly gives the play the most plot thrust of all the characters, so obsessed is he with winning a hit wing competition. His accent did occasionally drift into English intonations tonight, but it didn't bother me.

There's a LOT of onstage cooking, at one point getting a cheer.

Jason Barnett's Big Charles is a prospective love interest for Olisa Odele's comedy character, and the two rub up against each other uproariously, and Barnett's characterisation has the feel of a real person, utterly uncontrived.

Anyhow, the various plot threads, some forced, some not, plod along (the Hot Wing developments being the most entertaining), the characters banter brilliantly, and the whole feels a bit too long, a bit too contrived in plot, but overall marvellous for its characterisations.

4 stars from me.

PS: The show ended at 10:15pm tonight, making for a 2 hour, 45 minute running time, including one 20 minute interval.

We were seated exactly in those seats in the Pit AA 3 and 4 and honestly the view was great. Stage is jutted forward so you're watching from a sort of side view which is unique. I was slightly nervous  at the beginning that the big island in the middle of the kitchen would block the view of anything happening on the other side of the stage but with the exception of like...MAYBE 45 seconds of action which happens on the basketball hoop side, I don't think we missed anything and it was a phenomenal view. I would HIGHLY reccomend sitting on the  side we sat on though because it felt like most of the action was played on our (stage left, house right) side and I feel like I would have missed more sitting on the opposite side. 

This wasn't really for me - though there were bits of it that I enjoyed and I certainly didn't think of leaving at the interval (as I have sone with some things at the National). What I thought was a real shame was that there were lots of empty seats, on a Friday night too. There must be an audience for this. My kids are all in their 20s but they went to multi racial comprehensive schools in East London where homophobia was rife. The greatly to be admired Sir Ian McKellan visited my sons' school and I thought it was an incredibly brave thing to do. Numbers of those kids had been told by their parents that they would rather see them dead than gay. Lots of young people in their mid to late teens would really benefit from seeing this play and would, I am sure, add to the atmosphere by loudly enjoying it. Of course it's bad timing in that it is now summer holidays but I do hope that the National have reached out to youth groups and other young people's organisations with ticket offers.

Maybe British audiences don’t relate to references about guns and basketball. Maybe the NT should commission British writers instead of perpetuating American cultural imperialism. I suppose it won a Pulitzer because the play meant more in an American context and because they had to give the award to something - there are some real duds on that list, it’s hardly a guarantee of quality.

Doing a bit of research the year it won the Pulitzer was in the midst of COVID and plays without a production were allowed to be submitted. This had a production which was shut down because of COVID, but the pickings that year were slim (the two other Pulitzer citations were : Circle Jerk, and Stew) and I suppose in a sort of "the pandemic isn't going to stop us " mood they gave it to "Hot Wing"

Much like Slave Play

I am sure the impact of this was greater stateside

Unlike Slave Play

This is at least likeable

But overall it seems dated

Is WAY too long bordering on self indulgent

And tonally all over the place

I wonder if some of this is may be down to direction and choices

The acting is also patchy and some of the accents and dialect work quite quite appalling

It was like Eastenders crossed with The Cosby Show

I have to say I have found the theatre from black british playwrights

More interesting and challenging and piquant and entertaining

Than what US voices have to offer

LOADS of empty seats too

I suspect it would come across better

With American actors

Who can act

The intention and idea is laudable

Hence I suspect the award

Was there tonight, a captioned performance which turned out to be helpful as several lines would have passed me by otherwise.

When it's fun, it's good. Olisa Odele is superb with some note-perfect coming timing. Where I struggled was when it turned into shouty melodrama (the monologue just before the interval gave me a headache), accompanied by sombre music like when someone dies in Eastenders. It's frustrating because when it's good, it's very enjoyable and I laughed a lot. But as mentioned above it crams too much in and is far too long. Several people on their feet at curtain though so it's hitting the spot for some people. 3 stars from me.

I saw this last night. Quite a few empty seats and some papering.

I didn't think the writing was very good, surprised this got a Pulitzer. It is far too long and very uneven. At times it looks like a sitcom, other times more like a soap opera. I can understand that tematically it would be relevant in the US but you need better writing to make it interesting.

Still, I'd go and see it. The acting is fantastic. Kaireece Denton is a great young actor, can't believe this is his professional debut. He is really moving in the couple of dramatic scenes he got. Olisa Odele has the best funny lines and a great comic timing. Kadiff Kirwan is a very good lead and has lots of charisma (being incredibly hot helps too) though I found him a bit less credible in the second half (no spoiler but there is a scene towards the end that should be touching and I didn't feel it).

English is not my first language so sometimes I find difficult to follow accents I'm not used to. I missed some lines and two characters are named EJ and TJ, I found confusing who they were talking about in some scenes. I heard a group of 4 people saying they could not understand the actors because of the accents and they left after the interval. A party of 2 by my side also left after the interval (not sure if accent related).

Any Americans or accent experts could comment on this? I also found that for some actors the accents came and went a bit.