elisabeth gunawan

Hungry ghosts are believed to wander the earth—the souls of those who were selfish and envious, desirous and greedy—they have large empty bellies and and scorching flames on their tongues that turn everything they eat into ash.

Father has everything he has ever dreamt of since he was a hungry little boy: a fat inheritance, two well-educated daughters (Big Sister and Little Sister) and three meat dishes with every meal. When a devastating stroke leaves him catatonic, he is flipped from strong man to frail patient, from hero to witness. From the prison of his body, he reflects on his life of excess and ambition, and struggles to stop his two daughters from careening into the same abyss of self-destruction. Peculiar and solitary Little Sister escapes into the break-neck life of a celebrated classical pianist, while the sensuous and passionate Big Sister slowly succumbs to a mysterious illness that ravages her soul. Through the story of this family, we explore the irresistible bonds shared by humans, even in the face of festering greed, jealousy, and cruelty. 

Prayers for a Hungry Ghost will be a piece of devised physical theatre that explores the experience of being ‘in the realm of hungry ghosts’ – the psychological landscape of despair, anger and self-loathing that is created by the trauma of exile and migration. We want to explore the inevitable consequences of tropes like the hardworking immigrant and the model minority, and to investigate pathways for collective consciousness and healing for diasporic communities.