Latest news with #HotChicks
Wales Online
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
Hot Chicks review: Powerful play an important message to parents on dangers of drug gangs
A chicken shop, two teenagers, and their day dreams of becoming rich and famous. The world that Cardiff-born playwright Rebecca Jade Hammond has created in her play Hot Chicks is not an uncommon one. But the mundane, and unremarkable setting, and its every day characters, is what is so vital about this show. In a cast of just four people, the story of 15-year-olds Ruby and Kyla, set in Penlan, Swansea, shows the danger presented to innocent young people through County Lines operations - or drug running - and the exploitation of children - a very real issue operating in the underbelly of society. Whilst hanging out at Cheney's chicken shop, they have a chance encounter with older, cooler Sadie. On the face of it, she represents everything they dream about, wearing designer outfits and jewellery, and being able to afford whatever she wants. From superstar gigs to cosy pubs, find out What's On in Wales by signing up to our newsletter here . (Image: KIRSTEN MCTERNAN) As they perform dances in their school uniform to post on TikTok, with the aspiration of gaining 100,000 followers to enable them to afford a new life in Las Vegas, it takes very little for them to be drawn to her. Sadie's gestures start off small, casually paying for their dinner, before things become more sinister on repeat visits, when she asks the two young girls to drop off a bag which she 'accidentally' left behind in the chicken shop toilets, which turned out to be full of drugs. Gifts follow, as does the pressure she puts on the young girls, who find themselves deeper and deeper in the illegal operation, and become more and more exploited, with dark and tragic outcomes. Staged at Swansea Grand Theatre, this is an incredibly powerful and moving piece of theatre, with all four cast members excellent in their roles, in particular Londiwe Mthembu as Ruby, who showed a great range of emotion depicting some of the more harrowing experiences she encountered. (Image: KIRSTEN MCTERNAN) Presented by Grand Ambition, the Grand Theatre's Arts Wing was well used to maximise its space available, and lighting and blacked out dance routines were expertly executed to add pacing and tension to the play itself. Mrs Hammond's 75-minute play is a very important watch for parents in this day and age. The playwright explained how the subject matter of the performance has created many conversations among families, and that, in itself, shows its true value. Read a full feature on the background behind the show by clicking here.
The Guardian
25-03-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Hot Chicks review – scorching account of county lines exploitation
What a punchy play. Rebecca Jade Hammond has written a disturbing county lines drama that questions our stereotypes of groomers, itemises insidious techniques of manipulation and considers the neglect that leaves children vulnerable. But Hammond has also written a boisterous comedy about teenage girls who take feet pics for OnlyFans and share TikTok dance crazes and Las Vegas pipe dreams in a Swansea chicken shop. As director Hannah Noone's well-calibrated, 75-minute production switches from humour to terror, the rush from a soundtrack featuring Charli xcx is replaced by gnawing silence. Hot Chicks is the name of the WhatsApp group that 15-year-old besties Ruby and Kyla start with the smooth Sadie who walks into their fast food spot one day and becomes … what, exactly? She's too old for their friend group, could just about be their mother, but assumes both roles before also becoming their boss. In front of the pair, who can't afford a box of chicken and chips between them, Sadie casually flaunts her designer labels and brings in a bag of last season's clothes as hand-me-downs. Ruby's eyes widen as she picks up a sparkly jacket – soon she and Kyla are trying on Sadie's lifestyle, too, with the rewards of drug running. Between them, Londiwe Mthembu (Ruby) and Izzi McCormack John (Kyla) convey a spectrum of teenage innocence and experience akin to the characters in Sophie Ellerby's slow-burning 2019 play Lit. Ruby clowns around with the abandon of a child relieved to not be at home, where the fridge is empty and her father is unpredictable. Kyla has more front, openly suspicious of Sadie (Rachel Redford) yet similarly enticed by her wealth. At this final preview performance, the shifting dynamic between the trio is horribly compelling as Sadie flatters, cajoles, scolds and sympathises with the girls, learning intimate details of their lives in order to exploit them. Only two scenes – a command to lick the floor and a lesson in kissing – require some fine-tuning for full impact. Richard Elis is equally good as Cheney, who runs the shop, sketches in some local history and is both foil and father figure for the girls yet ultimately proves as vulnerable too. Tic Ashfield's sound and Katy Morison's lighting set a stark tone, the harsh neon glare a cut-price equivalent of the Vegas glitz the girls crave. Similarly exposing is Hannah Wolfe's traverse set design, with the glass shopfront at one end and Cheney's counter at the other. All of it evokes a hollowness the girls feel, exacerbated by chasing likes and social media comparisons, duly exploited by Sadie. This is an alarming drama, even if the coda to the Sherman and Grand Ambition's co-production frames the cycle of abuse a little too neatly. The scene that immediately precedes it has a devastating power and gives another sense to the play's 'chicks'. When one of the characters makes their final exit, I was reminded of what Arthur Miller said about the end of A Streetcar Named Desire – that when Blanche leaves the stage in Williams's play, we go right along with her. At Sherman theatre, Cardiff, until 5 April. Then at Swansea Grand theatre, 16-25 April.
