Cut Chilli by Chenturan Aran

Your face is an ancestral mountain, carved by mothers who dreamed you beyond their lifetime.

Jamie was abandoned as a baby in Sri Lanka. At least that’s what Katherine told him, as she raised him in the serene beach town of Mandurah, Western Australia. Katherine saved Jamie from the chaos of the Sri Lanka civil war, believing herself to be his forever mother, “bonded before time itself.” But when Jamie falls for Zahra, an activist who tells him about the shady history of international adoption, he begins to question his adoptive mother’s narrative and wonders why he’s never seen his adoption file.

Now Jamie’s heading home after a semester away, armed with clues he is wedged in a vast conspiracy in his homeland. He’s going to demand the truth from Katherine at his homecoming dinner, all while Zahra records it for her next podcast series. However the truth is knottier than they expect, and Katherine sees a wound being opened, one that will destroy their family forever.

This scorching new comedy from Chenturan Aran is a feast of cultural identity, displacement and ancestry. Inspired by pervasive adoption fraud in Sri Lanka, this is a play about difficult histories, and how we manage open dialogue to find vulnerability, truth, and sometimes love.

• Playwright: Chenturan Aran

• Director: David Burrowes

• With (a cast of 6): Ariyan Sharma, Kelsey Jeanell, Susie Lindeman, Brendan Miles, Noel Hodda, Nikki Sekar

Season dates: July 5 - 27

Performance times: Tues-Sat 7pm, Sat 2pm matinee (post-opening), Sun 5pm

Ticket prices:

• Previews/Cheap Tuesday: $35 + booking fee

• Adult: $45-75 + booking fee

• Concession: $35-55 + booking fee

Approx. run time: 100 minutes