MERRIGONGX Theatre Company presents A Place in the Sultan’s Kitchen from the 8th to 10th of August at the IPAC. See the end of the article for information on tickets.
Singer-songwriter and theatre-maker Joshua Hinton retells stories, passed down through generations and around the globe whilst cooking a loved family recipe on stage. Blending stories with food, Hinton explores his own and other experiences, navigating through adult life and childhood memories.
I had the pleasure of speaking to Joshua about his show. Here’s what I found out.
Interview:
Can you start by describing what your show is about?
The show basically follows me and the journey of me trying to understand my cultural heritage and my place in this world through that lens. It follows me telling stories about my maternal grandmother and my paternal grandfather and stories of their childhood and growing up in various places in the world as well as experiences that I had as a child that have impacted how I view the world and how I view myself. On stage, it’s me and my brother. I’m kind of the character, I tell the stories. He works all the technical stuff and does all of the imagery and the audio. But, in terms of telling the story it’s just me on stage.
What was your artistic process behind creating the show?
So, it started off as just an idea of how it would feel to cook a curry on stage. So, in my life I tribute a lot of my cultural heritage and my experiences to food and so that was kind of my starting off point. I said, ‘well, where can it go from here?’ And, my curry has kind of come from my meme [meh-meh], my mother’s mother – so then I want to tell stories about my meme and how her childhood has impacted my life. And, that was the jumping-off point.
How did you go about incorporating the cooking part with the rest of the show?
So, the cooking was my idea originally, to have it be on stage. But, throughout the process I have talked to her [meme] and it’s her recipe now so I’ve gotten a lot of tips along the way. I’m on the way to my final master-class in cooking from her right now.
What are the core messages and values that you want your audience to be taking away from your show?
I’ve come into this thinking that belonging identity, specifically cultural identity are quite universal things. And, throughout the play I talk about these crazy stories that my grandparents have and I bet everyone in the world has crazy stories that their grandparents lived through. And, so, in that sense, it’s quite universal and everyone can find something to relate to.
What kind of genre would you say your stories are collectively?
Interesting. So, the stories differ and change. There’s elements of comedy, action – I talk about my meme specifically living through bombings and invasions, my popi [poppy], my grandfather on my dads side, he has stories of witnessing the horrors of apartheid. So, there’s lots of violence and that sort of thing in that sense, but the rest of it is quite – I guess you’d have to call it a drama. Very much just following them and all the crazy stuff that has happened in their lives.
Is it mostly memories or do you have some made up stories in there as well?
Yeah, so, all of the stories are based on true events. Some of my memories have been changed a tiny bit to make it more theatrical but the stories from meme and poppy are straight from them. So, part of the process at the start of me writing this was sitting down with meme and recording an hour and a half, two hours of just recording her telling me stories. That was kind of how I incorporated her memories into the play.
How long did it take you to write the play?
The idea came to me 2 years ago but I started writing it at the start of last year and only really finished writing it at the start of this year and from there it’s just been the blocking and working with my director and getting all of the finer details coming together.
Have you performed before?
No, this is my first full-length play.
Do you have any more in the making?
Yeah, I think the plan is to continue down this path. I really enjoy it. The idea was that I would use this as a little test to see if I enjoy theatre and if I enjoy writing. I definitely have some ideas cooking, to see what I can do after this.
Have you always wanted to be on stage?
I have been around the theatre most of my life. My dad works at Merrigong – so, it definitely has always been something I’ve enjoyed watching and being a part of. Yeah I do think there’s always been a part of me that’s wanted to be involved in something creative like theatre.
The sense of smell is the most associated with memory. Did you feel strongly about this when writing?
Yeah, so I explore that towards the end. Smell is a huge trigger for memory, yeah. I don’t feel as close to my cultural heritage as I do now without food being such a big part of my life. A lot of my formative memories of experiencing my – meeting my Sri Lankan relatives for the first time in Sri Lanka or meeting the hundreds of different family members I have spread around the world have been sitting down and eating food together with them. I think that food and memory are inextricably linked.
Did you wanna add anything else?
I do really think that the themes are universal so if you’re thinking of coming and watching the show there will be something for everybody.
Follow this link to see more on tickets, prices and times: https://merrigong.com.au/shows/a-place-in-the-sultans-kitchen/
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