What’s your favourite dish from your childhood? That one meal that brings back memories of home, family and that feeling of contentment. For theatre-maker and singer-songwriter Joshua Hinton it’s his grandmother’s chicken curry.
A Place in the Sultan’s Kitchen (or How to Make the Perfect One-Pot Chicken Curry) at the Sydney Opera House is an engaging and sentimental exploration of Hinton’s family. As he speaks lovingly of his Iranian grandmother, whom he calls Mehmeh, Hinton begins to cook her one-pot chicken curry live on stage. He starts by chopping the onions, then adding the spices, and eventually the chicken and potato.
Interspersed with the meal prep are stories of his childhood, of questioning who he was and where he belonged. Growing up in Wollongong, he was frequently asked where he was from, “because I’m brown”, and he believed everyone loved curry as much as he did. He remembers visiting his family in Sri Lanka and not feeling brown enough. This question of identity becomes an ongoing theme throughout the performance.
We learn that his English grandfather was an actor and radio broadcaster who, in the 1970s, performed at the Sydney Opera House. He was also lucky enough to interview John Lennon, but not lucky enough to remember to record it. Hinton recalls his grandfather’s love of jazz and the stories he told him of his own childhood growing up in South Africa during apartheid. He recalls how those experiences shaped the man his poppy became.
His Mehmeh lived a very different life, with a childhood that took her between Iran and India. We learn about the Persian chant she would use whenever she lost something, and it would suddenly appear, about the time bombs were dropped on her school and she had to flee with her family.
What makes these stories so impactful are the supporting visual projections and audio recordings, designed by Hinton’s brother, Dominic Hinton. Not only are we able to see photographs of Meme, but also hear her voice, affectionately admonishing Hinton, or saying a prayer, and this brings the performance to life. The use of props such as spice bottles, tins and other condiments to narrate certain moments is appropriately childlike. Projections are not confined to the screen, with images appearing on the makeshift pantry curtain and various trays held up by Hinton.
A Place in the Sultan’s Kitchen is, at its heart, about belonging. The fabric that makes up who we are is woven by those who came before us. As Hinton comments, “Who I am is important because it’s who my parents are, who my grandparents are.” As the show nears its conclusion the smell of chicken curry hangs heavy in the air. There is a deep sense of coming home and the overwhelming love that Hinton has for his family is evident in every detail of this production.
FOUR STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
A Place in the Sultan’s Kitchen (or How to Make the Perfect One-Pot Chicken Curry) is a Merrigong Theatre Company production and will perform at the Sydney Opera House until 17 October 2026. For more information and to purchase tickets head to the Sydney Opera House website.
Reviewer attended on 14 October 2026.
Photos: Ravyna Jassani
