About The Sold-out Show

I’m Sorry I’m Not Lucy Liu is the first solo show I’ve written and performed – a sci-fi choose-your-own-adventure that asks an audience-community to make life-alternating decisions on my behalf.

The ‘Eden’ I play in the show has been compared to the famous actor Lucy Liu most of her life. Facing an uncertain future, she enters an experiment to go on a darkly funny, fast-paced, and sometimes heartbreaking adventure through alternative pasts, presents, and futures, as she attempts to rewrite and reclaim her story as a superstar in her own right. 

But, beware: 
Life is not a game. 
Every choice has a consequence. 
No two shows will be the same.

Her life is in your hands…

I’m so grateful to the team who made this show a twice-sold-out, thrilling immersive experience: Director Francesca Hsieh, Producer Iona Bremner, Lighting and Video Virginie Taylor, and Sound Designer Munotida Chinyanga. I learned so much about making theatre while collaborating with these innovative theatre-makers.

The show was commissioned by Camden People’s Theatre. In addition to the generous support towards the making of the show from CPT, Arts Council England, and Kakilang , I’m so grateful to curator and arts producer (and Kakilang’s Arts and Community Producer) Katrina Man, who facilitated our Affinity Night event.

Affinity Night

The pre-show community event and panel discussion spotlighted the British East and Southeast Asian (BESEA) experience in the UK, among like-minded ESEA theatre-goers and activists. After a food and drinks reception in the CPT basement, Katrina facilitated a discussion with powerhouse panelists from organisations that support BESEA communities through creative and social activism.

We were joined by co-founders of ESEA Unseen, Sue Man (a multi-disciplinary artist and craft-maker) and Kim Chin (an Artist-Designer-Curator-Producer), who are also members of ESEA Sisters. Julia Hirata (Mental Health & Wellbeing Specialist and Community Organiser and Outreach Officer at On Your Side) also joined us, alongside Lara Baclig, Writer, Producer and Curator, and Community Producer at the Museum of the Home. Our artist-panelists spoke about their advocacy and activism informed by their creative practices and intersectional identities, and how we could all use our creative voices to support each other.

When I performed the show that night, I felt the significance of sharing the show with an ESEA audience-community. I felt more of a serious and focused energy in the room compared to the previous nights, maybe because the show was supposed to land differently with people with lived experience of otherness. Was the satire too on the nose? Not nuanced enough? Are the jokes landing as intended? It was both unnerving and exciting, like seeing the crest of a wave coming over the horizon and trying to work out how to surf it. As the wave approached and we pushed off on our surfboards, each hushed moment felt as charged as each cackle of recognition, ripple of belly laughs, and gasp of outrage. Each time I felt a change in the air, I didn’t have time to wonder what was happening except to register that something was, and respond organically to the natural forces driving me through the barrel of the wave.

Here are some highlights from the work-in-progress run in June and the final run in November:

More from audience members…

“Innovative, heartfelt and really sweet… the performance was energetic and truthful”

“Interactive, profound, funny and relatable”

“The active participation of the audience brings excitement and enthusiasm to the uncertainty of choices and consequences of decisions.”

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Previously on I’m Sorry I’m Not Lucy Liu…

I’m Sorry I’m Not Lucy Liu had its first outing in 2022 as part of Camden People’s Theatre Starting Blocks showcase, directed by Masha Kevinovna Maroutitch: