Dear Lihua

Treetrick

After dying in London, Qiuqiu awakens in an afterlife organised not by morality but by language. Assigned to English Heaven, she must earn her way home through a points-based system. Working in the Dead Letters Archive, she discovers decades of unanswered correspondence from a recurring sender: Li Hua. As she reads, her Mandarin begins to erode. When Qiuqiu finally accumulates enough points to return, she finds her mother tongue has slipped beyond reach—only to discover that the price of belonging is the slow erosion of the language that once defined her.

Performed in Mandarin and English, Dear Lihua also invites audiences to read selected letters aloud. At its heart, the work unfolds a quiet truth: language is both our homeland and our Babel. What remains of us when the tongue that shaped us begins to slip away?

Event Details

Genre: Play

Duration: 50 mins

Price: £12

Social Media

Instagram dearlihuaofficial

Information

Audience participation, contains distressing or potentially triggering themes

Suitable for ages: 14 and over

World premiere

See venue page for accessibility information.

19 August 2026 9.30pm

Canal Cafe Theatre

Full: £12

Conc: £10

20 August 2026 9.30pm

Canal Cafe Theatre

Full: £12

Conc: £10



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