‘Youth in Flames’ is outstanding, a life-enhancing show full of theatrical magic. It’s beautifully written, pulsates with energy, is brilliantly performed and directed, and is enhanced by a highly skilled creative team. A sublime production.
The play focusses on the protests which started in March 2019 in response to the Hong Kong Government’s proposal to allow criminal suspects to be extradited to mainland China. This outraged many in Hong Kong who feared that China would gain more influence and control, and that basic democratic rights would be eroded. Activists and journalists were particularly worried that they would be targeted.
Hong Kong is a former British colony which was given back to China in 1997. The extradition bill was seen by many as a breach of the ‘Basic Law’ (agreed between China and the UK) which enshrined the principle of ‘one country, two systems’. This meant that Hong Kong’s legal system should have remained separate from China’s for at least 50 years until 2047, thus ensuring the continuation of democratic rights such as freedom of speech, a free press and the right to assemble and protest.
Hundreds of thousands of people – including many students and even children – took to the streets. At first the protests were largely peaceful. But before long there were violent clashes between the police and protesters.
Some people were killed and thousands injured.
Writer and performer Mimi Martin lived with her parents in Hong Kong for eight years and was 18 when the protests started. She says the play was ‘inspired’ by real events, and ‘informed’ by her own experiences, but that it is ‘a work of fiction’.
Martin’s writing, helped by dramaturg Paula Kramer, is sharp and pithy. No words are wasted. Mimi, the writer, has provided a powerful, elegant and sometimes witty vehicle for Mimi, the performer. And what a performance it is!
Mimi Martin plays Millie, a British girl living in Hong Kong with her parents. In the course of an enthralling hour, we see Millie at first as a child with a slight lisp and a cheeky smile, and then as a somewhat rebellious teenager developing a taste for clubbing and alcohol – sometimes overdoing it, giving herself a hangover, and once having a bad ‘trip’ after taking a pill.
At school she develops a friendship with a Hong Kong boy called Jesse. They get into trouble when they are caught passing notes in class and end up in detention. Jesse’s mother does not like Millie, and calls her ‘gweilo’, a derogatory term for a foreigner
When the protests start, Jesse wants to attend, but Millie is not so sure and seems more interested in going for a night out. Millie puts pillows down her bed to give her parents the impression she’s sound asleep, then slips out and meets Jesse in her favourite bar, run by Danny, who has recently established an independent radio station. Millie jokes that she’s there to help Jesse lose his alcohol virginity. But Jesse makes it clear he doesn’t want to drink.
Eventually they do end up at the protest and the atmosphere becomes very serious. It’s exhilarating to be caught up in a huge crowd chanting in unison for a ‘free’ Hong Kong. But the police with their shields, batons and helmets are frightening. Millie and Jesse get separated.
The play ends on a cliffhanger, but there is still some hope.
Mimi Martin’s acting is superb. One person shows are very common on the Fringe, but it’s no easy feat to hold an audience’s attention for sixty minutes or more. Martin’s performance is a masterclass in how to present a one person show.
This blazingly talented actor lives every moment in a searingly truthful performance. Martin also convincingly plays the other characters in Millie’s life, so at times it is difficult to believe there is only one actor on stage. And she’s an excellent mover, dancing in the club scenes, and in some of the scene changes.
One of the keys to her success is that she treats the audience as if we are her friends. Martin is not afraid of eye contact. Indeed she relishes it as she lets us into her world and tells her story. She allows us to look into her eyes and see the truth. An effervescent and very moving tour-de force.
Jessica Whiley directs with panache, imagination and great sensitivity, presiding over a wonderful team effort.
One of the joys of this fabulous show is that the production values are so high. The sound, designed by Guy Martin, really helps us to feel that we are not in a studio theatre in Edinburgh, but in the clubs, bars and streets of Hong Kong. The music is stirring and uplifting, but perfect too in the bar and club scenes. And there’s an illuminating series of clips from radio broadcasts during the protests. We hear the Government insist that the protesters are rioters and terrorists posing a security risk to Hong Kong.
I did wonder for a moment if video clips would have been even better, but quickly rejected that thought. A sound track leaves freedom for our imaginations to conjure up the images of a city in turmoil.
The lighting design by Ciara Moss is bright, colourful and exuberant, and enhances the different moods and atmospheres. The lighting helps to create the multiple settings including a classroom, bar, club, Millie’s bedroom, a taxi and the streets of Hong Kong.
There are ceiling bars with red, blue and white lanterns, as well as two lighting stands at the back of the stage which also change colour, as required. For example when a police car passes, the lights flash blue and white. White strobe lighting is used during the protests to symbolise explosions. Very imaginative lighting.
The appropriately named Dare Theatre has produced a wonderful show. It asks profound questions about human rights which are under attack not just in Hong Kong, but in many parts of the world including some Western democracies. You won’t see a better show at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe. Some performances are already sold out, so I advise you to book quickly for this must-see theatrical gem.
’Youth in Flames’ runs until 24th August. Tickets available athttps://tickets.zoofestival.co.uk
Reviewer: Tom Scott
Reviewed: 11th August 2025
North West End UK Rating: