Bury Me Before You Marry Me brings ghost marriages and audience choice to the Cockpit Theatre

A dark comedy about ghost marriages and the secrets families keep opens at the Cockpit Theatre this July

In some parts of Asia, when a young man dies unmarried, his parents will find him a bride and hold a ghost wedding to accompany him in death. Sometimes the bride is a corpse. Sometimes the woman being buried is still alive. Bury Me Before You Marry Me arrives at the Cockpit with that premise and asks the audience to decide what happens next.

Written and directed by Susu and produced by Susu Productions, the show is an immersive interactive dark comedy running at the Cockpit Theatre from 29 July to 1 August 2026. One day, a British man named Jason discovers that his Chinese girlfriend has been involved in a ghost marriage. What that means for both of them, and for the families caught between cultures, depends on the choices the audience makes at key moments throughout the performance. Every decision changes the direction of the story. Every performance ends differently.

The production draws on the supernatural mythology of Chinese folk belief to explore something much closer to home: family conflict, grief, cultural expectation and the boundaries drawn around who we are allowed to love and how. Sexuality is listed among the content warnings. The ghost wedding is the frame. What it contains is a story about what families demand of their children and what happens when those demands cannot be met.

The cast includes Joshua Dowden as Jason, Jada Gibson as Chi, Yuejia Hu as Lin Chuxue, Pelumi Ibiloye as Mei, Marian Lee as Su Qing, Yiqian Shao as Yuan Meng, Susu as Su Yu, Wenqi Yu as Liang and Zixuan Zhou as Wang. Movement direction is by Wenqi Yu and Zixuan Zhou. Lighting by Yuqing Wang, sound and music by Anqi Deng, costumes by Erin Gregory and Wenxin Tan.

Running time is 2 hours 30 minutes including a 10-minute interval. Age guidance 14 and above.

The Cockpit Theatre, Gateforth Street, NW8 8EH. 29 July to 1 August 2026 at 7:30pm nightly.

Tickets at thecockpit.org.uk.