Josh Hinton will present a feast for the eyes, ears, heart and hopefully, tastebuds in his somewhat unorthodox show at IPAC. Photo: Merrigong.
When it comes to the most nostalgic family recipes and the most inspiring true stories, grandparents have it in the bag – a fact that theatre-maker and singer-songwriter Josh Hinton is clearly aware of.
If the smell of a certain dish cooking evokes visceral childhood memories for you, you might want to follow your nose to IPAC where his work A Place in the Sultan’s Kitchen (Or How To Make the Perfect One-Pot Chicken Curry) will be staged.
In it, Josh weaves together childhood memories and family folklore passed down the generations, exploring how they’ve shaped his adult view of himself, and how we are all products of our memories in this deeply moving work.
Originally created as part of Merrigong Theatre Company’s MERRIGONGX annual artists’ program, A Place in the Sultan’s Kitchen fills the theatre with exotic smells as Josh attempts to make his grandmother’s chicken curry live on stage, telling stories of his maternal grandmother and paternal grandfather’s formative experiences, from the backstreets of Sri Lanka to a bustling city in India, to a schoolyard in Iran and a South African farm.
Josh hopes the nostalgia is something many can relate to, and all can appreciate.
“Some of my earliest memories are of my grandmother’s chicken curry. Growing up we’d make trips to Brisbane where she lives and the aroma of the beautiful herbs and spices would immediately hit you,” Josh recalls.
“She’d have fresh naan from Sultan’s Kitchen waiting for us on arrival – that was the name of their restaurant – and I remember thinking as a kid, ‘Man, this is so good.'”
Prior to the show, Josh hopes to give everyone a taste of the dish in question to whet their appetites (so to speak) for the experience to come.
He says like many recipes of the subcontinent, this one took a while to nail.
“I’ve made it about a dozen times and it still doesn’t quite taste like my grandma’s. She didn’t have a fixed recipe – just a pinch of this and a dash of that – she cooks from by heart and by nose,” he says.
“I’m still working out the kinks, but she has demanded I come to her place for a couple of weeks for a crash course before the work, so I’m in good hands. I’m sure she’ll whip me into shape in time for the big show, and I can’t wait to share the recipe – and stories – with people of my hometown.”
Tantalising as the dish itself might be, it’s just an entree.
The main course is a smorgasbord of “amazing true stories of a tumultuous childhood”, interspersed with actual audio snippets of a live interview Josh conducted with his grandmother for research.
“For 23 years of my life I grew up hearing these stories, so in the build-up to the play I sat down to collect them all in one recording. I gave her some prompts and let her speak, and what emerged was remarkable,” he says.
“She was in primary school when the Russians and British invaded Iran during World War Two and has these powerful fragmented memories of soldiers marching and planes flying overhead.
“I tell the stories from my point of view where appropriate, and share how they impacted me, but some parts I felt the audience had to hear it straight from her. So it’s a one-man show, but in a way, there’s a second actor on stage.”
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