Fully Sikh: Slam Poetry From Our Suburbs Comes to State Theatre Centre

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, State Theatre Centre of WA.

Fully Sikh is a new Australian work by 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 says "It's going to be a pretty exciting window into a culture many people don't know much about in such an extraordinary form," He added that "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."

Australian Poetry Slam (2014) WA representative at Sydney Opera House