19 – 20 May
Following a sold-out premiere at the Barbican Centre in 2025, this haunting ensemble production Prayers For A Hungry Ghost arrives in Bristol.
Led by award-winning theatre maker Elisabeth Gunawan (Unforgettable Girl; Stampin’ in the Graveyard), KISS WITNESS’ latest production is a mesmerising family drama set in the underworld (the realm of the hungry ghosts), exploring the intergenerational trauma born from the pressures of meeting society’s impossible standards.
This ensemble production powerfully combines horror, physical performance, live cinema, dark comedy and Chinese mythology — in which ‘hungry ghosts’ are reincarnated souls of those who were greedy or violent in their lives.
In the nightmarish underworld of hungry ghosts, a migrant family confronts the true cost of their choices. Mother left her home in Singapore to follow her husband in pursuit of the American dream. When he leaves her, she survives and raises her two daughters through hard work and sheer determination. Meanwhile, her daughters’ lives spiral in opposite directions: Little Sister ascends to classical piano stardom, while Big Sister is ravaged by a mysterious illness. Each path eventually leads them to the same pit of despair and insatiable hunger, unless their familial bond can somehow transcend the cycle of inherited trauma.
KISS WITNESS harnesses the visceral power of horror as a genre to expose the intergenerational trauma that lies beneath the surface of ‘model minority’ narratives.
- RUNNING TIME 1 hour 10 minutes (no interval)
- AGE RECOMMENDATIONSuitable for ages 14+
- TICKETS£16 | £12
- VENUE. Factory Theatre
Time: 7.30pm
Photography credit: Ikin Yum
