‘Youth in Flames’, inspired by the real experiences of British-Hong Kong actress and playwright Mimi Martin, transforms the heated space of ZOO Playground back to the protests of Hong Kong in 2019. When Martin takes her bow, she jokes that it is an immersive experience that we all live through the flames.

The story begins with Mimi, a fictionalised version of herself: a party girl who believes she is a citizen of the world and of nowhere (Hello, Theresa May!). She wakes after a night of clubbing and prepares to go out again after school, while her friend Jesse plans to join the protests on the front lines. As Jesse persuades her to join him, their journey becomes a chaotic night that ends not with parties but with violence, memory gaps, and Jesse’s arrest after suffering a severe hand injury. For Mimi, this is the catalyst: a transformation from apolitical teenager to someone who begins to see and care for Hong Kong as her home.

On stage, Martin is magnetic. With only a stool and simple lighting, she demonstrates striking versatility, moving fluidly between multiple characters while also giving depth to the personal journey of the fictionalised version of Mimi, a transformation rendered with emotional force.

The brilliance of her approach lies in its focus and rawness. She does not attempt to claim the voice of Hong Kongers but frames the story through her own coming-of-age as an expat who has spent her life moving between countries. Much of the hour is spent describing her dislocation, her life as a party girl, and her apoliticism. By giving this context, her eventual transformation feels convincing and earned, and her personal awakening reflects the larger movement without appropriating it.

At the centre of Martin’s storytelling is her relationship with Jesse, a schoolboy full of youth and possibility, part of the generation fighting for Hong Kong’s future. His journey from liveliness to brutalisation gives the play its weight, a reminder that democracy is not a given but a responsibility. If those within it retreat into individualism and cynicism, it can unravel quickly, with devastating consequences. The inclusion of news readings in radio voiceover roots the piece in reality, but Martin resists the temptation to drown her play in something beyond its scope. She knows a one-hour solo show can hardly capture everything in such vast events; instead, it can provoke, spark empathy, and inspire discussion.

Martin closes her piece with urgency and care, ensuring that Hong Kong’s story is not forgotten amid silence and erasure. ‘Youth in Flames’ is both personal and political: a coming-of-age tale that grows into a reflection on responsibility, memory, and the fragile futures young people are forced to carry, a story that feels more urgent now than ever.

‘Youth in Flames‘ has finished its Fringe run