Fringe Review: YOUTH IN FLAMES, Bunker One at Pleasance Courtyard
Photo credit: Supplied by the production
A powerful call to arms, Youth in Flames is set in 2019, when the government of China introduced extradition laws in Hong Kong. Through multimedia and a blaring soundscape, Mimi Martin performs her chilling one-woman show in Bunker One at the Pleasance with defiance.
Written by Martin, Youth in Flames follows teenaged British school child Millie and her best friend Jessie, native to Hong Kong. Giving a window into each of their lives, it shows how different upbringings and cultures allow awareness of current affairs, and how reactions differ depending on understanding of the world around you. Millie, as a teenager, just wants to drink - she knows a bar in town that serves underage, and that is about all occupying her mind. But Jessie is obsessed with the protests occurring in Hong Kong as more and more people take to the streets. He wants to take a stand, now, for their future.
An impressive narrative displays naivety and innocence through privilege and attitude. Switching between multiple roles, Martin is enigmatic in her performance and uses the whole stage to convey the thrum of a club or the beat of a protest. Electric when at the height of its emotion, Youth in Flames is a visceral performance. The dread of the soundscape and flash of light bars through hot white and bright red create the claustrophobia of fear. Throughout the show, radio broadcasts engulf the room keeping the audience abreast of the developing situation on the streets of Hong Kong. It is heartbreaking to listen to as the protests are quashed and as arrests increase.
Featuring other characters, Martin weaves a bigger picture of the people that intersect with Millie’s life who become part of a resistance as Millie starts to understand the political implications of the protests happening. As the performance continues, it darkens as reality can no longer be ignored through a party, even for a teenager.
Well-composed, Youth in Flames is about freedom and censorship. A performance that cannot be performed everywhere in the world stings as the audience watch it unfold. It is urgent, important theatre.
**** Four stars
Reviewed by: Hannah Goldswain
Youth in Flames plays at Edinburgh Festival Fringe until 31 Aug, with further info here.