Reviewed by Faith Jessel
We all have family baggage. We all have taboo dinner table topics. New Ghosts Theatre Company, sends a big ‘blow that for a joke’, to these conventional ideas, in its new production of Cut Chilli. A play that slices through unspoken truths, sheds light on cultural heritage, and uncovers the hidden tensions that shape our relationships.
With over 25% of Australians born abroad and nearly half having a parent from another country, Cut Chilli tantalises our taste for fresh, culturally diverse narratives. Refusing to flinch from exploring the complexities of confronting the challenging discussions around family and race.
Chenturan Aran's Aussie dramedy is inspired by Sri Lanka's adoption fraud scandal and its themes are particularly pertinent for a nation still grappling with the ongoing impact. Jamie's entire life has been shaped by a single story: that he was abandoned as a baby in Sri Lanka, a tale his adoptive mother Katherine has repeatedly told him.
We delve straight into the depths of cultural appropriation and displacement. We tackle issues of racism, multiculturalism, and belonging in Australia, but do so in a way that prioritises our common human experience. At its heart, it is about the construct of family amidst the search for honesty and love - a juxtaposition of subversive satire and poignancy, equally universal and unique.
Such big themes are also deeply intimate, and the Old Fitz Theatre, in the hub of The Cross, offered the perfect space to share in every impulse, observation and scathing retort. The ingenious set design, featuring panels on rails that switched from opaque to transparent, masterfully maximised the restricted space, and evoked the shifting grip of lies and truth. The beautiful black and white projections and subtitled Tamil voiceover, added a depth and longing that called to the protagonist Jamie from beyond his suburban roots.
The cast delivered a strong and authentic performance, skillfully navigating a minefield of emotions and familiar family dynamics. Incisively witty, it bordered on the hyperbolic, but that's what families are like - they're ridiculous, messy, and bring out the worst in each other, especially when liquor loosens the lips. This is what makes the characters so maddeningly relatable. Like Jamie’s uncle (played with unrestrained gregariousness by Noel Hodda) still living his glory days when political correctness was a distant thought and unfiltered white male opinions reigned supreme.
Ariyan Sharma, as Jamie, skillfully sheds his apathetic, jovial facade, exposing the scars of a lost identity and years of family gaslighting. He wants to uncover the secrets of his adoption file. He wants to know his birth mother and therefore himself. Over the course of an awkwardly fiery family dinner and with his activist girlfriend Zahra’s urging support (a grounded and exacting performance by Kelsey Jeanell), we witness him pushing past his parents' shallow boundaries, marking his first real step into manhood.
His father, portrayed with understated intensity by Brendan Miles, has surrendered to middle age mundanity, ironically masquerading as a 'woke' crusader in local politics. It's no coincidence that Sharma’s moments with his mother, the marvellous Susie Lindeman, are the most profound. Lindeman masterfully toggles our emotions, from exasperation to sympathy as they both grapple with the consequences of her choices, her ignorance and unfaced demons. Life's reckoning finally closes in making way for growth and healing.
Looking for a play that will spark conversation? This is it. Both timely and timeless, we are offered an examination of our own identities, beliefs and biases, ultimately broadening our understanding of what it means to be human. David Burrowes directs a nuanced portrayal of this experience, while revealing a common struggle. Be prepared to embrace the debate, revelations, and challenging perspectives.
See https://www.oldfitztheatre.