HOT POT

HONGWEI BAO (PLAYWRIGHT)

Hongwei Bao (he/him) is a Nottingham-based queer British Chinese writer, academic and theatre maker. He is part of the Fifth Word Playwrights, GOBS Collective, Paper Crane Poets, Nottingham Playhouse Writers' Room and Birmingham Hippodrome Creatives. He is also a Middle Way Mentee (Dalia Publishing and Leicester Curve) and a New Earth Theatremaker. He serves as a Trustee for New Earth Theatre, an advisory board member for New Nottingham Journal and Queer Up Duck! Festival. He teaches media studies at the University of Nottingham.

Hongwei's work explores queer desire, Asian identity, diasporic positionality and transcultural intimacy. Hongwei is the author of Dream of the Orchid Pavilion (poetry, Big White Shed, 2024), The Passion of the Rabbit God (poetry, Valley Press, 2024) Queering the Asian Diaspora (nonfiction, Sage, 2025) and Self-Portrait as a Banana (poetry, Poetic Edge, 2025). His short story 'A Postcard from Berlin' won second place in the Plaza Prize for Microfiction in 2023. Hongwei has performed his poetry at Bad Bettys Live, Broadway Cinema Nottingham, ESEA Authors LitFest, Inspire Poetry Festival, Nottingham Central Library, Nottingham Poetry Festival, Nottingham Playhouse and Five Leaves Bookshop. 'Hot Pot' is his debut stage play.

NAMOO CHAE LEE (dIRECTOR)

Namoo Chae Lee is a UK-based theatre director working across text, music, movement, music theatre and outdoor spectacle.

Born in South Korea, her work examines how political systems affect individual bodies, with a focus on queer and female stories, migration, objectified labour, ecological crisis, and the tension between cultural inheritance and contemporary identity. Her practice is shaped by a postcolonial feminist lens and defined by formal clarity, psychological detail, musical and physical precision, and precise visual composition.

She is the founder of KASSNA, an interdisciplinary collective creating space for East Asian female perspectives and working-class migrant voices in the UK theatre landscape.

She is a MacDowell Fellow and was a Headlong Origins Director 5.0. She was also a finalist for the Jette Parker Directing Fellowship at the Royal Opera House and the Dramatists Guild Foundation National Fellowship in the United States. 

She holds MFAs in Theatre Directing from Birkbeck, University of London, and Playwriting from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

ANG XIAO TING (DRAMATURG)

Ang Xiao Ting is an actor, director and dramaturg. Her works have been shown in: Australia, Japan, Shanghai, Taiwan, Canada, Sharjah (UAE) and the U.K. She has been featured in Vogue (Singapore) and was featured in the Robb Report 'Thought Leaders of 2024' campaign. 

Her practice in Eco-Theatre prioritises the various degrees of an integrated ecological practice, with a focus on Southeast Asian foodways, such as: Recess Time – which received an "Honourable Mention" at #CreateCOP27. Recent directorial works include: Extinction Feast (2022) and Pickle Party (Esplanade: The Studios, 2025) and ECOncert《声态不息》(Ding Yi Music Company, 2023-2025). As a dramaturg, her role often involves text dramaturgy, as well as projects with a focus on the cross-disciplinary.

Xiao Ting graduated from Lancaster Institute of Contemporary Arts (LICA), where she received the LICA prize for Outstanding Achievement in Theatre. She holds an MA (Distinction) in Performance-Making from Goldsmiths, University of London.

TK is an award-winning theatre designer based in London.

Theatre includes Scenes from a Repatriation (Royal Court), Pea and The Princess (Polka), The Jungle Book (Theatre by the Lake), My Father’s Fable (Bush), Little Shop of Horrors (Octagon Bolton, Ipswich New Wolsey, Theatre by the Lake, Hull Truck), Mayflies (York Royal), We Will Be Who We Are (Vault Festival), Beginning (Royal Exchange), The Making of a Monster (Wales Millenium Centre), Constellations (Stephen Joseph), The Apology, Tsunagu/Connect (New Earth), An Adventure (Octagon Bolton), Brenda’s Got a Baby (New Diorama), The Serangoon Gardens Techno Party of 1993, G*d is a Woman (Wild Rice), Mosaic (Esplanade), Re:Assembly, Assembly (Drama Box), The Good, The Bad and The Sholay (Checkpoint).

Opera includes Iphigénie en Tauride, Alcina (The Opera People)

Awards include the Arts Foundation Futures Awards for Theatre, The Stage Debut Awards for Best Designer, and the Linbury Prize for Stage Design.

michelle yim (playing Lin)

Michelle trained at the infamous ALRA that has now closed. 

Theatre: Caged Sisters Musical (Bridewell Theatre), Behind the Curtained Door (Manchester Confucius Institute); The Ballad of Mulan (National and International Tour);  The King and I (Theatre at the Mill).

Since 2017, Michelle has successfully received Arts Council project grants, and commissioned, developed, performed and toured three solo shows: The Empress and Me, The Unforgettable Anna May Wong and The Ballad of Mulan. She has also appeared in numerous short films and in small roles on TV (The Witchfinder, Sherlock & Blue Murder), and works as a voice over artist in English, Cantonese and Mandarin, in BBC4 radio dramas and video games.

SHIN-FEI CHEN (playing mei)

Shin-Fei Chen is an actor and writer.

Screen credits include Industry (HBO), The Son (See Saw Films), Doctor Who (BBC), and Folding (LS Films). On stage, she has performed at the Old Vic, Lyric Theatre Belfast, and the Royal Exchange Theatre. Her voiceover credits include Wuthering Waves, Cyberpunk 2077, Naraka: Bladepoint, and Star Ocean: Anamnesis.

As a writer, she has written for the BBC and All3Media. Her directorial debut, A Mary Can Dream, is an Oscar-qualifying short film inspired by her immigrant Taiwanese mother's experience in America.

Shin-Fei is bilingual in Mandarin Chinese and finds it hard to decline a glass of pinot noir.

For more information, please visit www.shinfeichen.com.

STRUAN DAVIDSON (playing ming)

Struan Davidson is an Australian actor of a Malaysian background. He was most recently in the London production and UK tour of The Mikado. Struan has also featured in various brand campaigns in Australia and globally.

In addition to acting and singing, Struan is a trained concert pianist and violinist, having completed his secondary education at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music high school division.

Outside of the creative arts, Struan holds a Bachelor of Arts (majoring in French), a Bachelor of Laws and a Master of Laws. Struan has also had more than five years experience working as a tax lawyer.

Struan was trained in musical theatre at the National Institute of Dramatic Art.

WINDSON LIONG (playing tao)

Windson Liong is an award-winning actor, singer, and voiceover artist with a deep-rooted passion for advocating new works.

Originally from Singapore and fluent in both English and Mandarin, he has captivated audiences in over 50 stage and musical productions globally, alongside recording 11 cast albums and numerous audio dramas, animations, video games and audiobooks. Most recently, he was nominated for Children's Audiobook of the Year at The Week Junior Book Awards, and Best Performance in Gaming at the One Voice Awards.

With a profound appreciation for a world without borders, Windson is passionate about fostering international collaborations and cross-cultural exchanges that connect the world through art, one production at a time.

A Theatre Arts graduate from Lasalle College of the Arts (Singapore), Windson also holds a Master of Arts in Music Theatre from The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (UK).

nalnari

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WITH SPECIAL THANKS TO:

The Cockpit, Michael Powell-Davies, Nic Wass, Fifth Word Theatre, Jen Sullivan, Annis McGee, Sarah-Jane Watkinson, In Good Company, Dr Xunnan Li, Manya Benenson, Sarah Tang, Nottingham University, UKRI Arts and Humanities Research Council, Clarissa Widya, New Earth Theatre, Liz Sutherland Lim, Minhee Yeo, Jon Chew, Mark Takeshi Ota, Gabby Wong, Nalnari, Central Saint Martins, Kimberley Andrews, Sara Bodinar, Gurnesha Bola, Rosemary Chapman, Phil Cowley, Nika Obydzinski, Josh Parr, Gareth Shaw, Zodwa Nyoni, Stephen Hoo, Leo Wan, Diane Page, Brian Mullin, Broadway Cinema Nottingham, Hothouse Theatre, Nottingham Playhouse, Outspoken Acts Nottingham, Queer China UK, Script East Midlands, The Pride Shop Nottingham, Playhouse East, Nottingham Lakeside Arts, Stage@Leeds, Derby Theatre.

The Idea and First Draft of Hot Pot was developed with support from Fifth Word.

Hot Pot is generously supported by: