Available to stream on our On Demand platform
It’s summer. It’s hot. Like really hot. Like ice pop after melting ice pops hot. Like orange midday sun hot.
Across the divide of a scorched basketball court two girls meet, shoot hoops and discover their shared obsessions make them inseparable friends. But will faith, growing pains and the darker reactions of others get in the way of that long, hot, orange summer?
A decade later the past walks back into view when 18-year-old Amina is confronted by her childhood best friend Tandeki. Can they reignite the spark of friendship by untangling their hurt feelings, or are some heartbreaks just too hard to mend?
Hot Orange follows Amina and Tandeki as they navigate what it takes to sustain love and friendship beyond childhood idealism and the moment you fall in love.
Hot Orange, by Amal Khalidi and Tatenda Naomi Matsvai, was a production from Half Moon, the UK’s leading small-scale young people’s venue and touring company. It was presented in their multi-award winning immersive theatrical style, exquisitely framed within an evocative soundscape.
Hot Orange was initially developed as part of Narratives of Empathy and Resilience, a major artform development project that took place in 2021 and was a continuation of Half Moon’s long-term ambition to create stories that reflect our diverse community, as well as support under-represented artists in developing their practice.
The show toured to ten venues in November and December 2023.
In November 2023 Hot Orange was nominated for two Off West End Theatre for Young Audiences Awards for:
BEST PERFORMANCE | Tatenda Naomi Matsvai and Yasmin Twomey
BEST WRITING | Amal Khalidi and Tatenda Naomi Matsvai
In January 2024 Hot Orange became a finalist in the Off West End Offies Awards for Theatre for Young Audiences.
BEST WRITING | Amal Khalidi and Tatenda Naomi Matsvai
The production contained references to attitudes and language choices expressing negative opinions about same-sex relationships.
Hot Orange is available to watch on our On Demand streaming platform. The film has closed captioning and is available with Audio Description.
Supported by The Royal Victoria Hall Foundation.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “Impressive writing debut for young audiences…. Today’s school audience get a closeup masterclass in acting…. A bittersweet gem about the ache to continue a kiss”
The Guardian
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “Brave, bold, provocative and lyrical…. his smouldering immersive production is an important and exploratory tale of teenage love….. Exquisitely crafted, brave and beautiful…just extraordinary”
Everything Theatre
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “This is daring new writing and an enjoyable watch for teens and adults alike. We are enormously lucky to have such quality work in the children’s theatre sector, but I could easily see this production going on to be played at leading-edge venues like the Bush or the Kiln. I am excited to see what heights it and its writers reach in the future.”
Everything Theatre
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “This is a story of young, queer love that feels real and messy – but retains a sense of optimism that reflects the joy of the girls’ young friendship, and even the urban fairytale spirit of plays such as Beautiful Thing.”
Reviews Hub
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “The directing is impressively seamless.”
Sardines
“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 an ideal play for young audiences or anyone who enjoys intelligent well-performed drama.”
British Theatre Guide
“Once again, Half Moon has produced a vital piece of work for teenage audiences that is engaging and relatable. It’s quite the debut from this exciting new writing partnership, and we look forward to seeing how Hot Orange develops on its own coming-of-age journey.”
The Family Stage
“Impressively focused (and very endearing) performances from Tatenda Naomi Matsvai and Yasmin Twomey in Half Moon Theatre’s Hot Orange. Enjoyably immersive staging, and a slam dunk portrayal of young first love – laced with sweetness, innocence and heartache.”
Circles & Stalls
“A powerful homage to childhood friendship… a beautifully honest representation of growing up queer.”
Mancunian Matters
“Both actors have incredible chemistry…. A bittersweet and compassionate look back at childhood and the grief that comes along with growing up. It reminds people that to move forward sometimes you have to look back, past the heavy things and focus on the joy.”
I Love Manchester
Tell me more about Hot Orange, what is the show about?
Hot Orange is a coming of age story about friendship, young love and forgiveness. We follow two loveable characters as they move through the complexities of confronting their friendship, which has been shaped by religion and society. They untangle themselves from what they’ve learned to affirm who they truly are and to express what they truly need.
You can say it’s also a slight love letter to the diverse community of South London and how beautiful it can be in summertime.
What was the inspiration for the show?
The inspiration behind the show were the memories that Amal Khalidi, my Hot Orange co-writer, and I shared about our early interactions with relationships. We imagined a Disney princess and prince on a basketball court watching older people navigate relationships. We thought about what it looked like for queer young people, when they wanted to be the prince, but could also be the princess. How do you look back at that first crush without shame?
What were you trying to achieve with the play?
We wanted to represent queer characters we rarely get to see; who were joyful and not tragic, yet also real and messy.
How did the piece come to fruition?
Amal and I took part in a 2021 art form development programme with Half Moon, the producers of Hot Orange, called Narratives of Empathy and Resilience, alongside a talented cohort of writers, directors, designers and composers, and were lucky to be paired up together.
We wrote an initial, much shorter, version of the play and then, over the next 18 months, with numerous Zoom co-writing sessions, endless Google Doc drafts, frequent meetings with Chris Elwell (the director of Half Moon and Hot Orange) and a couple of development sessions, the script was expanded and fine-tuned into the final performance script.
It was a crazy cool period and a very new process for both of us, co-writing and being commissioned for the first time in our lives to write a full-length piece.
Why do the issues in Hot Orange particularly resonate with you?
I feel like the characters are reflections of our younger selves, brought up in very culturally specific contexts in religious households, navigating who we are outside of those spaces in relation to our queerness. We had to learn to take space, to love ourselves, to forgive each other and to understand that we have nothing to prove. I think the characters get there in the end.
What can audiences look forward to?
Playfulness, poetry, banging beats and energy. After the show, I would like audiences to be filled with love, hope and joy! If I had to describe the show in three words, I would say punchy, playful and tender.
In March 2021 Half Moon was awarded an Arts Council grant for Narratives of Empathy and Resilience, a major artform development project to create stories that reflect our diverse community, as well as support under-represented artists in developing their practice. Hot Orange began as part of this and we would like to thank the artists involved in this phase: Samuel Baker, Rori Endersby, Roisin Martindale, Adam Paroussos and Esther Rennae Walker.
Jesse Bateson and Leanne Henlon for work on the post Narratives of Empathy and Resilience development phase of Hot Orange; Ed Risbey (floor graphic print); and the many young people in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets who have participated in the show’s development.