one4review | On 20, Aug 2025

Written and performed by Mimi Martin, “Youth in Flames” is an incredibly hard hitting piece of theatre, with it’s focus on the 2019 protests in Hong Kong.  Seen through the eyes of a teenage girl growing up in an ex-pat privileged environment, Millie experiences the troubles first hand with her BF Jessie and bar owner Danny.

There’s a sense of desperateness and martial law, controlling free speech and deporting non-conformists to China all adds to the chaos in this snap-shot in time. Attending the riots, being in the wrong place at the wrong time and getting mixed up with the Hong Kong Police, all ends up with horrific consequences.  Mille is helpless, trapped in a country that was once so free and independent,  now ruled by fear and propaganda.

The aftermath is devastating, school teachers have been arrested, people are missing from her school, Jessie is nowhere to be found.  The regular radio news bulletins help create a very powerful and dramatic backdrop, amplifying the utter carnage and horror in the not too distant past.

This is more than theatre, it’s a political statement, a cry for help and a vivid reminder that even now, Hong Kong is very much in the grip of Beijing.

****