Cut Chilli by Chenturan Aran

Next date: Wednesday, 12 August 2026 | 07:30 PM to 09:15 PM

Three people sit together in a family portrait style picture.

Presented by Darebin Arts Speakeasy

No one leaves the table until someone tells the truth.

“★★★★★ Cut Chilli makes me excited for Australian theatre. A blazing standout.” - Sydney Morning Herald

“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 beach town of Mandurah, Western Australia. But when Jamie falls for Zahra, an activist and podcaster 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, with a cultural lineage demanding to be felt and a determination to uncover the truth of his past, all the while with Zahra recording live for her podcast series, “Decolonising My Boyfriend”. The truth, however, is more complicated than expected, and Katherine fights to cover up an old wound being opened, one that will reshape their family forever.

Nominated at the 2025 NSW Literary Prizes, this scorching new comedy from Chenturan Aran is a banquet 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 acceptance.

Book Tickets

Content warnings

The work contains frequent coarse language; reference to drug and alcohol use/dependency; themes of: illicit intercountry adoption practices, grief, pregnancy loss, cultural insensitivity and racism.

Age suitability

Recommended for ages 15+

Run time

Approximately 100 minutes, no interval

Creative Team

Writer: Chenturan Aran
Director: Isabella Vadiveloo
Producer: Briannah Davis
Performers: Indra Liyanaarachchi, Anna Kaleeda, Alexandra Sangster, Ben Grant, Soren Jensen, and Aarati Ilanko
Set & Costume Designer: Ishan Vivekanantham
Sound Designer: Nick Rinaldi
Lighting & AV Designer: Lana Rosalea
Stage Manager: Noemie Huttner-Koros

Special Performances

Preview: Wednesday 12 August, 7.30pm
Opening Night: Thursday 13 August, 7.30pm
Community Night: Saturday 15 August, 6.30pm
After the show, Lynelle Long will host a discussion panel on intercountry adoption, in partnership with InterCountry Adoptee Voices (ICAV).
Post-show Artist Talk: Sunday 16 Aug, 5pm
Auslan Interpreted Performance: Thursday 20 August, 7.30pm

Reviews

★★★★★ "A wildly entertaining play to get you excited about Australian theatre again"

- Kate Prendergast, Sydney Morning Herald

★★★★ ½ "Cut Chilli is one of the most accomplished, meaningful and entertaining plays of recent years"
- Diana Simmonds, Stage Noise

★★★★ ½ "A beautifully constructed tale of family in all its manifestations"
- MusicalTheatre.au

From the NSW Literary Prizes panel:

“Leaves you breathless with both laughter and heartache”

“Cut Chilli is a bold and blistering exploration of identity, belonging and intergenerational trauma"

Acknowledgements

Supported by ICAV (InterCountry Adoptee Voices).

This work was performed at The Old Fitz Theatre, Sydney (2024). It was developed through Union House Theatre and La Mama Theatre (2020), La Boite and Australian Plays Transform and La Boite Theatre in the La Boite x APT Development program (2022), and Melbourne Theatre Company in the Cybec Electric reading series (2022). Chenturan and the Cut Chilli team extend their sincere thanks to The Old Fitz Theatre, La Boite, APT, MTC, Union House Theatre and La Mama Theatre.

Image by Gregory Lorenzutti; edited by Chenturan Aran