Blue Elephant Theatre, Camberwell

Hibi loves tea! So he leaves home to find some tea. Maybe he can grow his own tea leaf? Lonely is the path to locate the seeds! Will Hibi finally be able to enjoy a cup of tea?

Told through mask and object theatre, Why We Left Home is a silly tale about leaving home and the past behind for some serious rebirth. Exploring the pain and joy of queerness and leaving home, this brand-new alternative comedy will serve you a nice heart-warming cup of tea, literally.

After the successful scratch performance at BOLD Elephant supported by Ensemble Not Found and Halfpace Theatre, Why We Left Home is coming to you in its full glory.

“Absolutely captivating.”
Audience member

“[Hector] possesses a distinct ability to oscillate between humour and bittersweetness, developing a deep relationship with the audience through subtle, nuanced shifts in performance and storytelling.”
Megan Brewer, Co-Artistic Director, Halfpace Theatre

Originally developed with support from Halfpace Theatre and Ensemble Not Found.

Hector T.J. Huang is a London-based Taiwanese & transgender multi-disciplinary theatre-maker who creates stories based on the lived experience of queerness and transness, migration, and trauma, woven together with haunting imageries and an offbeat humour. An alumnus of Curious School of Puppetry and the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Hector’s practice combines puppetry, object theatre, dramatic writing and visual arts.

Chicken Shop Hermits is a puppetry and experimental theatre collective, founded by Hector T.J. Huang and Chiara Scoglio. By tackling themes of identity, belonging, and alienation, they combine disciplines of visual arts, writing and puppetry theatre with their international origins.

Previous works include digital puppetry short River’s World (commissioned by Little Angel Theatre), Lost Personhood: The Nuggets Anthology (The Hope Theatre), and My Haunted Dollhouse: Patina (Haphazard 2024, Z-Arts, Manchester).

Tickets can also be booked by phoning the Ticketsource Telephone Box Office on 0333 666 3366, available from Monday to Friday, 9.00AM to 7.00PM and Saturday, 9.00AM to 5.00PM (excluding bank holidays). Bookings made through this service are subject to a small booking fee.