The Hot Wing King
By Katori Hall

Booking and details
‘You got like, a PhD in chicken. Yo’ knowledge on some next level type s**t’
Ready! Set! Sizzle!
It’s summertime in Memphis, Tennessee and the annual Hot Wing Contest is about to roll through. Cordell has his sights set on the crown this year, with the support of his partner Dwayne and friends, Isom and Big Charles. Together, they are The New Wing Order, and they’re serving wings worthy of ‘kangs’.
Cordell’s culinary crew are getting ready to fire up his new mouth-watering ‘finna-be first-place’ recipe, when the arrival of an unexpected guest throws some extra heat up in the kitchen on prep night.
As the temperature rises and the sauce boils over, it seems a first-place trophy and a grand cash prize aren’t the only things Cordell risks losing. Can he take the heat, or will he have to get out the kitchen?
Kadiff Kirwan is Cordell in this hot new comedy told with the love language of food; about family, Black Masculinity, sexuality and the journey to finding home.
Katori Hall (Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, The Mountaintop, P-Valley) returns to the National Theatre with her Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy making its London debut, directed by Roy Alexander Weise (‘Master Harold’… and the boys, Nine Night).
Performed 11 July — 14 September 2024 in the Dorfman Theatre.
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Suitability
For ages 14+
Please note: This production contains flashing lights, descriptions of death and strong and offensive language.
- A description of a black character’s death at the hands of a police officer
- Racially offensive language is reclaimed and used as an expression of affection among Black friends
- Brief use of ableist language
- Use of a homophobic slur
- Sexual language and scenes of a sexual nature
Supporters
The National Theatre’s New Work programme is supported by the Lawton W Fitt & James I McLaren Foundation
Cast
Production team
Playwright
Katori Hall
Director
Roy Alexander Weise
Set and Costume Designer
Rajha Shakiry
Movement Director
DK Fashola
Composer and Music Director
Femi Temowo
Lighting Designer
Joshua Pharo
Sound Designer
Elena Peña
Intimacy and Fight Director
Bethan Clark
Casting Director
Jacob Sparrow
Dramatherapist
Samantha Adams
Dialect Coach
Hazel Holder
Company Voice Work
Tamsin Newlands
Associate Set and Costume Designer
Ruth Hall
Linbury Set and Costume Associate
Yimei Zhao
Staff Director
Cory Hippolyte
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Photography (Dwane Walcott, Kadiff Kirwan, Olisa Odele, Kaireece Denton, Simon-Anthony Rhoden and Jason Barnett) by Johnny Ho.