Memphis-born Katori Hall is a cultural juggernaut. Audiences may be familiar with her previous work, such as the magnificent, Olivier-winning play The Mountaintop, which imagines the final night of Martin Luther King, her collaboration on the book for Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, or her foray into television with the enjoyably sleazy premium soap opera P-Valley, which looks at life in the Dirty South through the lens of a popular Mississippi stripclub. The Hot Wing King fits comfortably alongside these other works; geographically, thematically, and in terms of its acclaim, having won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Cordell (Kadiff Kirwan) has recently moved to Memphis, abandoning his wife and children to live with his attentive and organised boyfriend, Dwayne (Simon-Anthony Rhoden). Cordell is frustrated that he is yet to find a job, and focuses on winning the cash prize for the best fried chicken wings at the city’s annual festival to find the Hot Wing King.
This is a big logistical operation, involving the preparation of hundreds of wings, as well as time-consuming sauces and marinades, so in addition to Dwayne, Cordell has drafted their friends Isom (Olisa Odele) and Big Charles (Jason Barnett). This fractious odd-couple of occasional lovers, are a great source of comic relief, but also wisdom and emotional support. Isom is young and flamboyant, eager but unreliable, while barber Big Charles is older, and more grounded.
The play is almost three hours long, and although there is a general sense of convivial humour, the first half feels a little directionless, until the arrival of Dwayne’s teenage nephew, EJ (Kaireece Denton). EJ has been living a precarious existence since his mother was killed by police responding to a mental health crisis. Dwayne offering EJ the use of their spare room sparks a conflict with Cordell, which is complex and multilayered. EJ’s well-meaning but ineffectual father, TJ (Dwane Walcott) further complicates matters.
As the token straight characters, the father and son are the catalyst for some awkward conversations. However, TJ’s defensive bravado also leads to one of the play’s funniest incidents, as he is manipulated into tasting some next-level “suicide wings”. Walcott’s meticulously contained slapstick viscerally conveys the wings’ diabolical heat, and by the end of the scene everyone’s eyes are watering.
The culinary aspect of the show should not be overlooked, with cooking taking place onstage, and tantalising discussion of Cordell’s creations, ranging from the conventional (hot-hot or lemon-pepper) to the avant garde (blueberry-marinated or spicy Cajun Alfredo with Bourbon-infused crumbled bacon).
For a fully immersive experience, theatre-goers might want to arrive early, via the open-air summer market currently set-up between the NT and the Thames. Vendor Chicken Bandits has been working with the production, so you can sample some wings, and see what all the fuss is about.
The play is not without its faults. It never quite marries the comedic and dramatic aspects of the story, leading to some lurching tonal shifts. Some of the musical interludes, while beautifully executed, disrupt the narrative flow, and some audience members complained that heavy accents and fast delivery made some dialogue difficult to follow.
Although it deals with weighty themes, and takes the emotional lives of its characters seriously, the conclusion is too neat and saccharine to be dramatically satisfying. But one suspects that in The Hot Wing King, Hall has decided verisimilitude is a sacrifice worth making, for a rare on-stage display of gay, Black joy.