Hot Garbage - A Feat of Teenage Theatre By Augustus Williams

The Theatre Network Summer Academy is back for their fourth year with another amazing show! Hot Garbage is fully created and performed by a group of young theatre artists, under the guidance of Ellen Chorley and the creative team behind the Roxy. The play is an adaptation of The Beggars Opera, but hilariously re-interpreted into modern day Florida, putting a contemporary swing on the old tale. This talented group of young people brought a deeply impressive performance to the stage, with a sense of comedic timing and individual characterization that rivaled that of professional actors. Hot Garbage was one of the funniest pieces I’ve seen at the Fringe this year, and it seemed to me that the TNSA team knew who their target audience was and executed a show wonderfully with that audience in mind. The piece was also designed in part by one of the students, Sophie Eyo, who built elements of the set as well as designing them. The design as a whole was very high quality for what you might expect from a teen production - the costumes were all well-fitting and suited the characters, and the set was clean and effective without being overly complicated. Hot Garbage is a fantastically fun farce, and I think anyone who sees this show will be blown away by the young talent on stage.