Joshua Hinton's play A Place in the Sultan's Kitchen blends live cooking, music and storytelling into an exploration of identity and belonging. Staged at the Sydney Opera House, the production follows Hinton's family across countries and faiths as he prepares his grandmother's chicken curry on stage. The play explores migration, grief and the pressure to fit in. Hinton's brother Dominic contributes technical work and occasional performance. The show ends with Hinton's answer to where he is from: "I come from the 'Gong."
University of Melbourne academic Louisa Lim argues Australia has long overlooked its Chinese history, and that this silence has lasting costs. She describes persistent racism, including a 2023 Lowy Institute finding that one in five Chinese Australians reported being called offensive names in the past year. Lim points to the Bendigo dragon tradition, which began in 1892, and to the work of poets and artists who are recovering lost stories. She says Australia must reckon with its Asian past to engage fully with the region.
Rights advocates are calling on the Victorian government to help older residents secure replacement photo identification before they give up their driver's licence. Losing a licence can remove a person's only commonly accepted government-issued photo ID, making banking, healthcare and government services harder to access. The groups propose a Pre-Surrender Identity Safeguard within the VicRoads medical review process. It would explain the consequences of surrender, add an expiry date to the Victorian Proof of Age card, and allow verified government data to be reused. The campaign is seeking community support.
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Gregory Nussen's solo performance, QFWFQ, draws inspiration from Italo Calvino's post-modern style, blending reality and fantasy. The show begins with playful convention-breaking but evolves into a profound exploration of Nussen's personal identity, including his sexuality and Jewish heritage. Nussen's performance blurs the line between actor and individual, creating an intense, existential examination. The production challenges audiences with questions about sanity, political allegiances, and personal identity. This thought-provoking work is a testament to Calvino's fantastical worldview and Nussen's theatrical prowess.
Neha Kale's book Foreign Return explores migration, memory, and the concept of home. Kale discusses how migration is a deeply human experience often misrepresented in media, and how art can express what words cannot. She argues that home is not a possession but a relation, shaped by responsibilities to people and places. The book challenges reductive narratives about migrants and examines the tension between personal identity and broader political forces.
