The heat is on at the Royal Exchange Theatre

Sheffield Theatre’s decision to revive Miss Saigon, even with a mostly East Asian creative team, has been met with criticism and concern. Whilst the revival is being staged at Crucible, the Royal Exchange Theatre is staging the world premiere of Kimber Lee’s untitled f*ck m*ss s**gon play.

There is a lot of hype surrounding this play, not only because of the hilarious timing but also because it was the Inaugural Winner of the International Award for the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting in 2019.

“Kim is having one of those days. A terrible, very bad, no-good kind of day, and the worst part is…it all feels so familiar. Caught up in a never-ending cycle of events, she looks for the exit but the harder she tries, the worse it gets and she begins to wonder: who’s writing this story? She makes a break for it, smashing through a hundred years of bloody narratives that all end the same way. Can she find a way out before it’s too late?”

With breathless hilarity, Kimber Lee’s play jumps through time, wriggling inside of and then exploding lifetimes of repeating Asian stereotypes, wrestling history for the right to control your own narrative in a world that thinks it can tell you who you are.

The play is directed by Roy Alexander Weise MBE, and it will be his final play as Co Artistic Director of the Royal Exchange Theatre; both he and Bryony Shanahan are stepping down from their roles this year.

untitled f*ck m*ss s**gon play is being staged at the Royal Exchange Theatre as part of Manchester International Festival.

untitled f*ck m*ss s**gon play runs at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester from June 24 to July 22, before transferring to the Young Vic, London from September 18 to November 4.