Prayers for A Hungry Ghost - 5 Elements Movement Practice Workshop

A movement-based practice space for professional and pre-professional actors, dancers, and physical theatre performers. Co-facilitated by theatre-makers Elisabeth Gunawan and Tang Sook Kuan, this workshop draws on our experience teaching physical theatre, yoga, and contemporary dance to support embodied performance training in theatre.

Rooted in the Chinese philosophy of the Five Elements (Wu Xing)—Earth, Wood, Fire, Water, and Metal—each with its yin and yang qualities, we explore how an embodied exploration of these elemental energies can nourish the actor’s imaginative and physical engine. The goal is to develop a responsive, present, and expressive performing body.

We begin with the breath before moving into deeper somatic explorations. Our interest is to go beyond form, focusing not on how movement looks from the outside, but on how it feels and affects others—trusting in the porousness of human co-presence between audience and performer. We will lead various movement practices to invite you to tune into sensation and impulse, and to train the body to listen, respond, and connect.

Our process is built on our 2-year process of researching and developing ‘Prayers for a Hungry Ghost,’ which will be premiering at the Barbican in October. More info and book here!

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Accessibility, Documentation & Queries

This workshop will take place in the Large Comittee Room on the first floor. There is a lift, and toilets and a quiet space are on the ground floor. Please find more accessibility info here.

This event will be documented. Please let Katrina know (see below) if you do not want to be included in this documentation or have any queries about this.

Please contact Katrina Man (Arts & Community Producer, Kakilang) if you have any access requirements, queries or need a free place: katrina@kakilang.org.uk or 07488878692.

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Elisabeth Gunawan Bio:

Elisabeth Gunawan is a critically-acclaimed and award-winning writer/performer and artistic director of KISS WITNESS. She wrote and performed Unforgettable Girl (2023 - Pleasance, EdFringe), Stampin’ in the Graveyard (2025 - Summerhall) and Prayers for a Hungry Ghost (2025 - The Pit, Barbican). Awards include: Best Performer in a Play - The Stage Debut Awards 2022, OffFest Award 2022, and Best Writing from Theatre Weekly’s Best of the Fest (2023). As a facilitator, she has taught at RADA, Italia Conti, and the Central School of Speech and Drama. She is also a certified yoga instructor. www.kisswitness.art

Tang Sook Kuan Bio:

Sook Kuan, an independent Malaysian dance and theatre practitioner, recently moved to London to pursue her second Master’s degree, MA Theatre Lab, at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). She received her first Master’s in Creative Arts from Universiti Malaysia Sabah (UMS) in 2012 and has over a decade of experience as a dance lecturer, theatre maker, choreographer, and performer. Her creative journey is profoundly shaped by her connection to ritual and shamanic dance practices from Sabah, which inspire her to create work that is authentic, meaningful, and deeply human. Her choreography, such as Tapang Tree, has received international recognition, including being a finalist at the 2nd Solo & Duo Challenge for MASDANZA (Korea, 2017), and selections at the Yamagata Documentary Dojo (Japan, 2018) and Visions du Réel (Switzerland, 2020).

About Prayers for a Hungry Ghost

Prayers for a Hungry Ghost is a theatre piece premiering at The Barbican in October 2025, the performance draws from horror and Chinese myths to explore the inevitably dehumanising consequences of the model minority trope, to forge a collective consciousness towards repair. Created by the award-winning company KISS WITNESS, The story is a family drama set in hell (the realm of the hungry ghosts), told by an ensemble cast, using text, physical performances and a powerful incorporation of live cinema that oscillate between ferocity, sardonic humour and tenderness.