Broken Rice

It takes a lot of courage to put yourself out there, especially if you're wrestling with ADHD. Louisa invites you into her world, lets you in to get a glimpse of her struggles and how she’s using a creative outlet to cope or perhaps work through those challenges. It’s messy. Emotionally messy. Messy like a first draft messy. And I think that’s the point. She’s sharing a day in her life with all the setbacks and small triumphs that go into getting through just one day. Louisa’s performance is tender, brave, vulnerable as she portrays her personality and the personality of her other self. I hope this is just the beginning of her exploration.

The play was funny, vulnerable, educational and well-written. A great preview on how ADHD folks deal with their day to day struggles, coupled with the dreaded journey to menopause. The scientific explanation for ADHD in Layman's terms was very easy to digest and playful at the same time. Louisa's performance was energetic and the use of video projections added value to the storytelling. I love the set too.

Wasn’t sure how a one woman show could tell a story and keep me as the audience engaged and focused. After seeing it, now I am sure I am ADHD! However The show was interesting and funny and with the clever use of the interactive computer dialogue and Michelle’s inner “Me Me” it felt like a 3 person show. Great show!

This play made me think about what I did and more importantly didn’t understand about ADHD. I did see it twice…the second time bringing a friend whose child was recently diagnosed with ADHD as an adult. Louisa does an incredible job of helping the audience understand the “party in Michelle’s head” and the challenges of being ADHD in our world. Her use of multi media is brilliant and the elaborate if not chaotic set was effective making the show both entertaining and educational.

Great set design, multi media incorporation and amazing work by Louisa! As someone who identifies as more neurotypical it was a great insight into daily the struggles of someone with ADHD. I came away with a much better understanding and compassion for those who live with it and really enjoyed seeing all of the hard work on stage pay off!

Fantastic show - thoroughly enjoyed it from the idea to the writing to the performance - highly recommend!

A poignant glimpse into the experience of a neurodivergent creative as she navigates her deadlines and dopamine.

I entered the theatre and the elaborate set transported me into the beautiful, scattered mind of our heroine. I appreciated the snapshot of chaos that Louisa shared as someone with ADHD and I even landed a spicy gummy bear! Thank you for your vulnerability.

This show actually had me thinking well after I was done watching it. Excellent work, Louisa!!!

I could not believe the elaborate set when I walked in and was impressed by the multimedia approach, from Tik Tok videos to live dance and song by Louisa Phung. Broken Rice charts the journey of Michelle discovering and coping with ADHD in an entertaining, hilarious and heartwarming play. It creatively allows the audience to feel what people with ADHD go through, and made me understand myself a little more!

Revealing, affecting look at what a life with ADHD looks and feels like, from the inside out, after a diagnosis as an adult.

Absolutely floored with the amount of vulnerability Louisa put into the show. You could tell how difficult it was for her to start and finish the grant application for the play as it was for the totally-not-based-on-her character in the play! The personification of ADHD was so beautifully genius! As a person who hasn't been diagnosed but been told by many I might have ADHD... It was so interesting to see how the symptoms were portrayed. What started as a "...okay... Let's see how this play goes" sort of feeling ended with me teared up-- I mean! I'm not crying, it's just raining!! If you haven't had a chance to see it, please take time to check out this one woman show!

Broken Rice is a vivid, charming, and deeply relatable story about living with ADHD. The set is a character unto itself, giving us a glimpse into the life—and mind—of Michelle, an intensely lovable ADHD girly.

The play seamlessly integrates technology into its storytelling, from grant applications and TikTok brainrot to the occasional gem that finds its way to us through a doomscroll. It’s sweet, funny, and refreshingly contemporary.

But what makes Broken Rice especially compelling is its exploration of ADHD through the perspective of a woman of colour who has hit the “bamboo ceiling” and is beginning to question how she was taught to function, perform, and mask in a society shaped by powerful stereotypes about Asian women.

Funny, tender, and wonderfully chaotic, Broken Rice offers a fresh perspective on what it means to build a life when the rules you were taught to follow were never really designed for you. Congrats to Louisa Phung on an amazing Fringe show!

The set design was gorgeous and I can see how important it was to the performer to tell this story. Unfortunately, I don't think ADHD itself was enough to substantiate a piece of this nature. There's so much suggestion of a greater context these issues exist within, but the piece is so concerned with being 'about' ADHD it undercuts any actual meaning I could have received from show. I wanted so much more out of this piece, but like I said I think the performer got a lot out of being able to tell their story.

Wow! If you ever need to explain to someone what the mind of someone with ADHD is like, take them to this show! One of the best depictions of the struggle I've ever seen.

A wonderful show about the ups and downs of what it’s like to live and function with ADHD. Well performed and written with a lot of honesty and truth. Well done Louisa! Highly recommend!

After seeing broken rice, clearly i could relate to how my own life parallels to what the character is going thru. Relate able, understandable and so love able

Day two and already the most elaborate set I’m likely to see at the Fringe. And the second performance over two days that features an actor exploring their own neurodivergence, in this case ADHD. The set, the script, and the performance are all a bit messy, but authentically so. This production is life-affirming and ultimately a triumphant tale of bravery.

I loved the humanness of the story and how personal it was to the actor's real life! I also liked that it followed a timeline and the stage complimented the storyline.

Absolute charmer of a performance and a playful dive into the mind of an ADHD artist on the eve of writing her arts grant. Louisa Phung is charismatic, talented and immensely watchable in her one-woman play and it walks that perfect balance of funny and poignant. My friend and I attended the September 15 performance and we left saying, wow, I feel seen. Entertaining use of multi-media visuals. For a simple premise and simple set, the play was layered and emotionally complicated. Would definitely recommend!

The audience can't help but love and root for our hero, Michelle, in this very personal and vulnerable story. Lots of laughs and high production value. Videos on the projector, lighting changes, and the disheveled setting, bring us into her neurodivergent mind.

I loved how raw this performance was. Funny, relatable, intimate. I also found it educational for anyone who doesn’t know and cannot relate with what it’s like to live with adhd. Take your friends and family!

A funny, honest, heartbreaking look into the reality of ADHD without the trend. I laughed, I cried, I felt more understood than I’ve felt since my own diagnosis. This is a must-see for anyone who loves the Fringe.

Really beautifully written and performed, Louisa gives a very realistic and relatable account of what it's like living with adhd. Highly entertaining, funny, eye opening and vulnerable I consider this a must see at the festival.

Authentic, messy, beautiful.

This is one of those shows that anyone diagnosed as an adult with ADHD, or anyone who loves someone diagnosed with ADHD, needs to see.

It's no small feat to hold an audience’s attention for an hour on your own, but Louisa is mesmerizing to watch. This show will make you laugh, cry, and feel seen. Loved it.

Ricepaper Nagazine

This is a beautiful and deeply personal show. The set design is lovely, and the sound design has some cool ideas in it. Totally worth your time, go see it!

An honest, intimate look into the mind of a creative with ADHD. Funny, creative, and relatable.

Louisa literally and figuratively puts themselves out on stage, bare, for all to see. (With a few Tik Toks and sparkles to keep your own personal Mimi engaged).

As an Asian creative who was also diagnosed later in life this hits close to home.

For anyone who has ever freaked or frozen over a deadline (and for those who randomly dance in their room) this is a must see.

But also even if you don’t identify, watch this anyway. Fricken awesome.