Hot Orange tackles the adage "You Can't Go Home Again" in a bittersweet examination of a friendship gone awry and halting efforts to put things right. The phrase Hot Orange refers to a basketball; appropriately, therefore, designer Sorcha Corcoran transforms the stage into a well-worn urban playground. A rough wire fence, complete with a fading bunch of flowers surrounds the stage the floor of which is marked out as a basketball court.
Director Chris Elwell stages a promenade production with the energetic cast bobbling and weaving through the audience, who stand around the performance area. Anyone sitting on the heavily graffitied concrete blocks becomes part of the action—expected to handle props or move whenever a dramatic point requires an actor to strike a pose.
Eight years after a childhood friendship that could have developed into something more ended abruptly, Tandeki (Tatenda Naomi Matsvai, who co-authored the play with Amal Khalidi) seeks out Amina (Yasmin Twomey). The former is anxious to repair fences, but the latter is defensive and resentful. The friends bonded at primary school over a shared passion for basketball and became so close as to be able to make up games in an invented world. But when Tandeki is ‘injured’ in a fantasy game, Amina, a Disney fan at heart, tries to revive her with ‘true love’s kiss’ and sets in motion a sequence of events that puts the friendship at peril.
Perfectly aimed at ages 13+ Hot Orange discreetly examines issues of dawning sexual awareness along with religious, parental and societal pressures. Amina is Muslim and considers wearing the hijab but becomes aware that to start and then cease wearing it will invite unwanted criticism. As the friends separately move through adolescence, the sexual confusions and temptations which they encounter are described in a positive, non-judgemental manner.
Matsvai and Twomey avoid the awkward ‘acting’ that can arise when adults try and portray children on stage. Rather than try and capture child-like physical movements, the duo concentrate on projecting a blazing sense of wonder that works perfectly with the theme of recognising one’s sexuality.
Hot Orange is realistic enough to acknowledge the friendship would have come under strain in any case as the duo moved to different secondary schools and in the light of Amina being more of a scholar than Tandeki. The script, often in rhythmic blank verse, has a lyrical quality, but Matsvai and Twomey do not shy away from broader more physical comedy. Matsva brings a subtle farcical quality to Tandeki’s misadventures in trying to avoid being caught trying on her older brother’s sports gear, while Twomey has a charming innocence, grumbling about being compelled to behave and dress like a ‘girly girl’.
Hot Orange is an ideal play for young audiences or anyone who enjoys intelligent well-performed drama.