“I’m not the one that’s a freak, I’m fully Sikh!” When spoken word poet Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa performed on Australia’s Got Talent in 2016 she made headlines with a poem that tackled racism faced by the Sikh community in Australia, riffing on Lara Bingle’s “Where the bloody hell are you” tourism campaign.

Fully SikhPavan Kumar Hari and Sukhjit Kaur Khalsa. Photo © Stefan Gosatti

She went on to take her poetry around the world, and three years later she’s about to make her theatre debut in her own show, Fully Sikh, co-produced by Black Swan State Theatre Company and Barking Gecko Theatre, in her home town of Perth.

“Why are we so afraid to ask questions, to knock on our neighbours’ door and share a meal together?” she asks Limelight. “What is stopping that? Is it fear? If it’s that, I want to combat that with some Sikh hospitality and say don’t be afraid and let’s get amongst it.”

Fully Sikh celebrates family and Sikh culture, and Khalsa’s not joking about the hospitality, with a Punjabi meal cooked live on a set inspired by her childhood kitchen. “It’s got all these little nooks and crannies...