Prayers For A Hungry Ghost Comes To South West Theatre
“Bold show” comes to Tobacco Factory Theatres this spring
Theatre company Kiss Witness, is coming to Bristol with two different shows this spring – Stampin’ In The Graveyard and Prayers For A Hungry Ghost. Remarkably, the first is in April with the second following very quickly in May.
Prayers For A Hungry Ghost, is a fusion of Chinese mythology and horror, in what has been described as a show that is both ‘haunting’ and ‘intoxicating’.
It’s written by theatre maker and multidisciplinary artist Elisabeth Gunawan who leads Kiss Witness.
The theatre company is an independent global-majority-led company which aims to create spaces for East and Southeast Asian stories.
“For too long, East Asian bodies have been borrowed to present Eurocentric, orientalist narratives that rob us of our personhood,” Gunawan says.
“Our work is committed to reclaiming these narratives and centring East and Southeast Asian stories in all their depth and complexity. Here, ghosts and hauntings are more than tropes in the horror genre, but a manifestation of absences and erasures in history. I want the piece to make visible a worldview that has been historically marginalised to present East and Southeast Asian people as idiosyncratic human beings with fears, desires and fallibilities. This is the story of my family, and of many migrant families.”
Prayers For A Hungry Ghost is an ensemble production exploring the intergenerational trauma of having to meet society’s impossible standards.
It’s told through a combination of horror, live cinema, physical performance and dark comedy. Bringing it together is Chinese mythology. Hungry ghosts are reincarnated souls of people who were greedy or violent during their lives. The story is set in the underworld where hungry ghosts can be found.
The show is performed by an East Asian cast and has been created by a female-led majority East and Southeast Asian creative team. It uses languages English, Mandarin, Cantonese and Malay.
Through performance, the company will be exposing myths surrounding East and Southeast Asian migrants. How their success must be down to cultural values such as ‘diligence’ and ‘respect for authority’.
The Eurocentric narrative presenting people from these cultural backgrounds as one homogeneous group belies the systemic racism and hate crime they experience.
A report by the University of Leicester in 2024, found that 45 per cent of the UK’s East and Southeast Asian people experienced a racial hate crime. The study found that incidents were ‘chronically under reported’ with just 10 per cent of those experiencing them reporting the incident to the police.
It’s an issue which continues to rise. There’s been a 61 per cent increase between 2018 and 2023.
“This is a remarkable, bold show, which platforms underrepresented stories with real grit, and real heart,” a spokesperson for Tobacco Factory Theatres said.
“It’s quite unlike anything we’ve had on the Factory Stage before, and we’re so excited for our audiences to experience it!”
Prayers for a Hungry Ghost will be at Tobacco Factory Theatres 19-20 May 2026
For more information or to book, visit: https://tobaccofactorytheatres.com/shows/prayers-for-a-hungry-ghost/
Cast and Creatives
Elisabeth Gunawan
Vinna Law
Sook Kuan Tang
Ting-Ning Wen
Writer: Elisabeth Gunawan
Directing Team: Elisabeth Gunawan, Matej Matejka, Sook Kuan Tang, Namoo Chae Lee
Movement Director: Matej Matejka
Sound & Music: Li Yi Lei
Set & Video: Erin Guan
Puppetry: Aya Nakamura
Lighting Designer: Natalia Chan
Costume Designer: Ezra Barnard
Props & SFX: Elisabeth Gunawan
Stage Manager: Hui Tse Liu
Photography: Ikin Yum
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