“Whatever they want, it’s on me” chimes Sadie, as she starts her grooming of vulnerable 15 year olds Ruby and Kyla, in Cheney’s chicken shop, based in Swansea. Two girls from backgrounds of implied poverty and neglect are dazzled by the generosity, power and glamour of this previously unseen businesswoman who enters their lives and changes the trajectory of their teenage years. Showering them with gifts, clothes and money, Sadie (Rachel Redford) teases out information about the lives and vulnerability of Ruby (Londiwe Mthembu) and Kyla (Izzi McCormack John), who soon begin drug running for her as they try to fulfil their teenage dream of getting to Las Vegas and living the high life.
This is a hard hitting play about child criminal exploitation, in which writer Rebecca Jade Hammond has cleverly demonstrated the chilling charms of the groomer and the trap that the children fall into. The audience is helpless and harrowed as the story unfolds and Ruby and Kyla become pawns under Sadie’s compelling and often brutal rule. Meanwhile Cheney (Richard Elis), the unsuspecting chicken shop owner who is kind and somewhat a father figure to the girls, becomes a victim of Sadie’s flirtatious behaviour and gets drawn into the darkening situation.
Humour is core to the success of the play, as the teenagers joke about relationships, dance to Charli xcx, and post photos on some salacious social media sites. But as the story progresses and the coercion deepens, the humour reduces and Sadie’s commands e.g. “lick the floor” become more troubling and uncomfortable. Hammond follows the twists and turns which lead to increasing violence and ultimately sexual assault and exploitation – a difficult but powerful watch.
So what can we learn from this impactful piece of engaging and disturbing theatre? And what can CASCADE do to help ensure the lessons are taken from the stage to the community?
CASCADE’s Dr Nina Maxwell, a leading expert on Child Criminal Exploitation (CCE), was an adviser to writer Rebecca Hammond and the production team at Grand Ambition and Sherman. Nina has led research programmes on CCE and county lines leading to the co-produced Complex Safeguarding Wales website and toolkit which has resources for parents and practitioners. Nina reflected on Hot Chicks:
“This is a must see production, for practitioners working with vulnerable young people, for teachers, for parents of adolescents, and importantly for young people themselves to become aware of the temptation and traps of exploitation, and how ‘one job’ can escalate to a spiral of fear, coercion, violence, sexual exploitation and criminality.
With funding and support, this impactful play and its educational resource could be rolled out across Wales to inform young people and hopefully prevent them becoming victims themselves.”
As a final reflection, the cynical, calculating and manipulative behaviour of the exploiter, set against the vulnerability of adolescence and teenage dreams, demonstrates why the justice system needs to view exploited young people as the victims of crime, not the perpetrators.
Hot Chicks is written by Rebecca Jade Hammond and is a partnership between Grand Ambition and the Sherman. Hot Chicks continues its run at Sherman Theatre, Cardiff, until the 5th April before moving to Swansea from the 16th to the 25th April.
Please note the production contains strong language and references to grooming, exploitation, drugs, abuse, under-age sex and sexual assault.
Tickets available from: https://www.shermantheatre.co.uk/event/hot-chicks/
All photography by Kirsten McTernan