Artist: Lian Loke

A performance meditation on personal grief in devotion to Lian Loke’s beloved father and mother.

The dining table becomes the site where grief most vividly manifested in daily life — after the sudden death of her mother, Lian’s father struggled to swallow food, as though grief itself had taken root in his throat. Yet amidst the sorrow, moments of humour and lightness offered a way of relating, remembering, and holding love in his final months.

Why You Not Eat is a solo performance that delves into the terrain of personal grief, created in response to Lian Loke’s experience of losing both parents within two years of each other. Centred around the haunting image of her father’s inability to eat, the work uses the social ritual of the dining table as a frame to explore how the body holds sorrow — and the silences that accompany loss.

First devised and performed at the Melaka Art and Performance Festival (Malaysia, August 2025), Why You Not Eat will have its second presentation at the Festival of Death and Dying at the Drill Hall, Rushcutters Bay, on 22 November 2025.

A creative residency at The Living Room Theatre’s new home at 21 Shepherd Street, Marrickville offers Lian Loke vital time and space to further develop the work.

“As I expand my movement-based practice to include spoken text and vocals, Michelle was the natural choice,” Lian says. “Her mastery of integrating bodies, movement, vocals, sound, lighting, objects, and space into a single creative rhythm is extraordinary. I love the poetry and musicality of her work — the way it oscillates between worlds. I feel safe and confident in Michelle’s hands to go deeper into new territory.”

During the residency, Lian will collaborate with Michelle St Anne in the role of dramaturg. Having previously worked with St Anne as both performer and costume designer in Living Room Theatre productions, Lian is deeply familiar with her distinctive image-based, non-linear, and immersive approach to theatre-making.

This project is supported through The Living Room Theatre’s Open Room Residency Program, providing artists with time, space, and mentorship to develop independent and experimental performance work at 21 Shepherd Street, Marrickville.