Cut Chilli Review: Chenturan Aran's Play Explores Race and Identity in Australia

Chenturan Aran's play 'Cut Chilli' is a pacy, funny, and thought-provoking 110-minute one-act play about belonging, identity, family, and race in contemporary Australia. The story follows Jamie (Indra Liyanaarachchi), a Sri Lankan-born adoptee raised by a white Australian couple in Perth, who now lives in Melbourne and dates Zahra (Anna Kaleeda), a progressive intellectual activist of Lebanese heritage. The play opens at an Indian fusion restaurant where Zahra suggests they are seated outside due to Jamie's colour, sparking his journey to explore his heritage and find his birth mother. The narrative moves to Jamie's adoptive parents' home in Perth, where his mother Katherine (Alexandra Sangster) and father Lee (Soren Jenen) display privilege-blind attitudes, and his uncle Jeff (Ben Grant) embodies casual racism. The play critiques white feminism, cultural appropriation, and the complexities of adoption in Sri Lanka, which was historically exploitative until banned in the 1980s. Staged at Northcote Town Hall in Melbourne, the production faced technical issues with video projections, but the play remains cohesive. Aran's writing draws from recognisable stereotypes while revealing characters' humanity, though the dramatic tension relies heavily on the mystery of Jamie's heritage. The play runs until 23 August 2026, presented by Darebin Arts Speakeasy. The review is by Kate Mulqueen, an actor and writer based in Naarm (Melbourne).