Black Swan State Theatre Company’s next production is Fully Sikh.
Fully Sikh by Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa is a co-production between Black Swan and Barking Gecko Theatre and will have its world premiere from 10 to 27 October in the Studio Underground at the State Theatre Centre.
Fully Sikh is a new work by Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa who has been described as one of Australia’s most talented and celebrated spoken word artists.
Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa’s culture and politics have informed her poetry for years. She made headlines around the globe when she performed a rousing poem confronting racism on Australia’s Got Talent and went on to tour her poetry across Australia and overseas. Fully Sikh is Sukhjit’s story and marks her highly anticipated theatre debut.
Fully Sikh is a celebration of family and Sikh culture, with all of its complexity, told with Sukhjit’s lyrical style and flow. It is the story of growing up as a brown, hairy Sikh girl in the Perth suburbs and features a Punjabi meal cooked live on stage.
Accompanying Sukhjit on stage is the virtuosic musician Pavan Kumar Hari. Pavan’s score moves from 90’s power ballads to Sikh hymns played on an array of traditional instruments and kitchen implements.
Director Matt Egerton said the production will give people a unique insight into another culture.
“It’s going to be a pretty exciting window into a culture many people don’t know much about in such an extraordinary form.” Edgerton said.
“Sukhjit explores her years from late primary school through the high school years where she grapples with her identity as a member of a Sikh family and a high school community, with all the social pressures of tradition, faith and how to fit in.”
Tickets to Fully Sikh are on sale now via Black Swan State Theatre Company.
Image: Richard Jefferson