A new queer East Asian play, Hot Pot, will première at Playhouse East in London on 16 June and then tour nationally till 5 July.
Written by Hongwei Bao and produced by Auka Productions, the play features a predominantly British East and Southeast Asian cast and gives visibility to the underrepresented queer British East and Southeast Asian experience on UK stage.
NEWSSPONSORED
Arin Lin
6/13/20262 min read
©️ Hot Pot Poster Designed by Nalnari
Ticket Information:
Venues & Dates & Time:
London: 16 - 21 June 2026, 3 pm & 7 pm, Playhouse East
Nottingham: 25 June 2026, 7.30 pm, Lakeside Arts, Djanogly Theatre
Leeds: 26 June 2026, 7 pm, Stage@Leeds, Stage One
Bristol: 28 June 2026, 7 pm, Loco Klub
Langton Green: 30 June - 2 July & 5 July 2026, Langton Green Festival, Bubble
Derby: 4 July 2026, 11.30 am, Derby Theatre, Studio
For more information, please visit: https://www.aukaproductions.com/whatson
A new queer British East Asian play titled Hot Pot will premiere at Playhouse East, London, from 16 to 21 June, then tour nationally to theatres in Nottingham, Leeds, Bristol, Derby and Langton Green. The play is written by Hongwei Bao, directed by Namoo Chae Lee and produced by Auka Productions. The production features a predominantly East and Southeast Asian cast and creative team and is one of the first British queer East and Southeast Asian plays produced and touring in the UK.
Hot Pot tells a story of friendship, love, and authenticity. We follow four university friends’ diverging lifepaths, waning ambitions and missed opportunities when they reunite at a hot pot restaurant and reminisce about the past. It is a tender examination of friendship and the small betrayals of adulthood. The play traces the heartache of lost love, the friction between dreams and pragmatism, and the work it takes to remain authentic when the world insists otherwise. Warm, inquisitive and rooted in East Asian perspectives, Hot Pot serves up a single night of conversation that explores gay identity with honesty and nuance, questioning what it means to belong to a place, society, partner, and one’s true self amidst a queer-unfriendly environment.
The playwright Hongwei Bao says: “Hot Pot is one of the first plays produced and touring in the UK that specifically focuses on the under-represented queer British East and Southeast Asian experience. It is an important cultural text both for the UK’s queer history and its theatre history. The play is made by a predominantly British East and Southeast Asian cast and creative team, which is a rare phenomenon to see in this country.”
Hongwei Bao also says: “Queer British East and Southeast Asian representations rarely appear on stage and screen, despite being one of the most important communities in the UK. We seek to offer a more nuanced representation of the community and its people, avoiding stereotypes and harmful tropes. We also hope to use this opportunity to showcase the work of some brilliant British East and Southeast Asian theatre professionals and have conversations with the UK’s theatre industries regarding issues of access and equity for marginalised communities.”
This production is supported by the University of Nottingham and the UK Research Innovation’s Arts and Humanities Research Council. The book Hot Pot – published to coincide with the play’s UK première tour – contains the play's script, the show’s production information and some background materials for research, teaching and future performance.
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