This is an audio introduction to our production of The Hot Wing King, by Katori Hall. Directed by Roy Alexander Weise.

These include information about the pre-show touch tour, some background to the play and descriptions of the set, costume and characters. They are available as an audio file, as a word document and in full on this web page for screen readers.

Play the audio file

The production lasts about 2 hours and 40 minutes, including a 20 minute interval.

Please note that this production contains flashing lights, descriptions of death and strong and offensive language.

Click here for the transcript of the audio file as a Word docx

It is also available here on this page:

The Hot Wing King is set in a modern house, in the suburbs of Memphis, Tennessee, in the present day. The audience sits around three sides of the stage: in the pit, and two gallery levels above.  The stage is open to us.

Viewed from the rear of the building, the house is on three levels: the back yard, the open plan kitchen and living room, and an upstairs bedroom. The outside walls of the house are missing to give an unobstructed view of the interior. Instead, items of furniture help to define the outer edges of rooms.

The back yard is level with the front row of the audience. It’s reached by a narrow path that leads from the unseen back door down a set of three steps.  The yard is six metres wide and around two metres from front to back. A basketball hoop hangs to the left and a narrow alleyway runs along the side of the house. Opposite, a wooden storage chest stands beside the steps. Weeds sprout through cracks in the concrete around the edges, and a scrub of grass has managed to take root in the near left corner.  A rusting oil drum sits in the centre of the yard. At the back, a knee-high wall is used as a seat.

The ground floor of the house is T shaped, with the rectangular kitchen running front to back and the hallway and living room beyond, running from left to right.  The kitchen overlooks the yard;

a large, light, and modern room. It has stylish units with white marble worktops and cupboards beneath, painted light blue.

On the left a kitchen unit sits in front of an unseen window that overlooks the narrow path. The countertop is stacked with white plastic food containers and kitchen roll, and there’s a sink that has a flexible faucet. Open shelves beneath the counter house plastic jars of spices.  A large coolbox with wheels sits in the near left corner, close to the audience.

There’s a rectangular kitchen island in the middle of the room, with one of the shorter sides facing the audience.  On top is a black induction hob with a large stainless-steel pot on it.  On the right-hand side of the island is a stove, with drawers either side.

A row of half a dozen small white tasting bowls is arranged along the left-hand side of the counter, along with several tubs of spices. A folding tabletop grill is plugged in underneath.

In the back right corner of the kitchen, an L shaped, freestanding unit holds a single hotplate, an air fryer, and a block of knives, alongside pots of spices. Shelves beneath it house bowls and vases. Another smaller coolbox on wheels sits on the floor nearby.

A silver double fridge is built into a three-metre-wide section of wall, in the back right corner of the kitchen. The fridge is crammed with bottles of Smirnoff Ice and other alcoholic drinks, and more spices. The doors of the fridge are covered with postcards of different countries, mementos of church mission journeys, and there’s a small Black Pride flag, a clenched fist on a rainbow striped background. To the left of the fridge is a pair of white painted doors that open into a pantry.

A spice rack full of small jars is screwed onto the inside of the door and is revealed when the door opens.

Framed posters and paintings are arranged on the wall above. The artwork includes a watermelon, a photo of the Black author and activist James Baldwin, and another of Memphis Grizzlies player, Ja Morant, in action on the basketball court. Alongside are a couple of colourful woven spade-shaped fans and a woven square, all from Uganda.

The grey stone tiles of the kitchen give way to wooden floorboards in the living room and hallway.

Only the hallway on the left is in clear view.  A set of stairs ascends away from us to other parts of the house. Beside them is an upright piano, with a piano stool in front.

A two-metre-high lamp with two round frosted glass shades, stands behind the piano in the back left corner. On the back wall, close to the piano, hangs a portrait of a Ugandan mother and child. The woman wears a headwrap and looks down tenderly at the infant cradled in her arms.

To the right of the portrait, the main door into the house dominates the back wall. The door is made of dark wood and has panes of textured glass around it, with a grey roller blind in front of the central panel.  To the right of the door is a two-metre-high bookcase that houses books, framed family photographs, bottles of spirits, and pottery vases.

The living room is hidden by the section of kitchen wall with the fridge and the larder. A wallpaper with a swirling geometric print in green, black, orange, and yellow, covers the walls. The back of a large yellow couch defines the edge of the room.   It faces to the right where an unseen television plays.

The upstairs bedroom is also a rectangular box. It rests on top of the living room, so that one corner overlooks the kitchen at the front, and another overlooks the outside of the house at the back.  The same colourful wallpaper on the walls, covers the underside of the bedroom and part of the stairwell.

The walls of the bedroom are greyish beige, giving it a fresh, if neutral, feel.

The narrow end of the room is on the left. The metal headboard of the single bed is pressed against the wall nearest to us.

An abstract triptych of paintings, with smudges of blue, brown, and white paint, hangs on the wall to the left of the bed,

At the end of the bed, a wardrobe stands in the corner of the room with a chest of drawers to the right. The drawers have a small lamp and a set of toiletries on top. There’s a small mirror on the wall above them. The door into the room is in the far corner. On the wall to the right of the door is another bland abstract painting.

There are 6 characters in an all-male, all-Black cast. Their ages range from 16 to mid forties.

The owner of the house is Dwayne, who’s around 40 with a mainly athletic physique, but just a touch of a dad bod.  Like most of the characters, he has a carefully shaped beard and moustache, and he sometimes wears black-framed glasses, giving him a studious look. Dwayne’s hair is short and neat, befitting his work as a hotel manager, and he wears a gold cross around his neck.  For work he dresses formally in a navy-blue two-piece suit with an olive-green shirt and pale green tie, but at home he relaxes in Versace silk pajamas, blue with extravagant gold and white patterns.

Dwayne shares his home with his partner, Cordell.  He’s about the same age as Dwayne, but taller, with a strong, muscular build and a groomed beard and moustache.  His hair is covered by a gold bandana, and when he takes it off his black hair is in short, loose twists and locs. He’s dressed in a grey ribbed vest with burgundy-red Nike knee length shorts.  Over this is a full length blue and white striped apron. Cordell is a talented cook and spends most of his time in the kitchen, dreaming up recipes for sauces to coat chicken wings. Cordell’s arms have tattoos celebrating other people in his life – a rose-encrusted letter V, and a cross, entwined with the names Antoine and Jared. He keeps order with the whistle and stopwatch hanging round his neck.

Two other men are currently living at the house, the on-again-off-again partnership of Big Charles and Isom.

Big Charles is the eldest of the group, and a calming presence for the other men.  He’s a barber, wearing the evidence in his loosely curled black hair in the form of a wide toothed comb. His look is important to him and he keeps his beard and moustache groomed.  Jason Barnett, who plays Big Charles, describes his character’s body shape as corpulent – proof of his love for life.  He dresses in a black shirt with a pattern of white feathers in strips down the front, with black and beige knee shorts and tan Timberland boots.

Isom is a little younger.  He has a narrow face with elegant cheekbones.  Isom weas a light moustache and he has a red velvet durag, a headscarf that covers most of his hair in a smooth cap with two long tails flowing down to his waist.  Long straight black hair escapes from under it.  Isom has an orange sports shirt with the number 40 – the uniform of his favourite basketball team, the Memphis Grizzlies.  Isom wears it with black, knee-length combat trousers and a little Fucci (that’s a fake Gucci) shoulder bag on a gold chain. Isom’s sharp tongued and sassy and intensely loyal.

Everett is Dwayne’s nephew.  He’s 16, and nearly grown, with a man’s swagger and a teenager’s insecurity. He has a round face and a sweet smile; no facial hair, and his hair is short, in defined black curls. Everett lopes in wearing a red hoodie with a baggy white T shirt and baggy calf-skimming shorts in black denim.  He carries a small black rucksack. The rest of his belongings are in white garbage bags.

Everett’s father, TJ is 35, slim and athletically built with well-developed biceps.  His beard and moustache are shaped, and the crown of his tightly curled hair has a copper tint.  TJ’s expression is wary, his movements sharp and uneasy. He blends into the night with a shiny navy-blue puffa jacket and ripped black jeans.  When he opens the jacket there’s a glint of gold on his black Versace T-shirt.  TJ has a scar on left cheek and eyebrow indicating a tough life.

All the older men wear gold jewellery, heavy rings, chains around their necks and gold watches and bracelets.  The housemates band together as the Hot Wing Order, wearing gaudy orange shirts with pictures of chicken drumsticks and wings glistening with sauce.

Cast and Production credits

Dwayne, played by Simon-Anthony Rhoden

His partner Cordell played by Kadiff Kirwan

Their housemates Big Charles and Isom, played by Jason Barnett and Olice Odele

Dwayne’s nephew, Everett, is played by Kaireece Denton, and Everett’s father TJ, by Dwane Walcott.

Playwright, Katori Hall

Director, Roy Alexander Weise

Set and Costume Designer, Rajha Shakiry

Movement Director, DK Fashola

Composer and Music Director, Femi Temowo

Lighting Designer, Joshua Pharo

Sound Designer, Elena Peña

Intimacy and Fight Director, Bethan Clark

Creative Narrator, Ronkẹ Adékọluẹ́jọ́.