Melbourne’s theatre scene has been gifted a rare gem this winter with The Wrong Gods, a poetic, politically charged and spiritually resonant four-hander, that marks its debut at Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne, as part of the RISING festival, running until July 12.
For Sydney-based writer and co-director S. Shakthidharan, this return to Melbourne after his acclaimed productions Counting and Cracking and The Jungle and the Sea is both homecoming and a heartening revelation. “Sydney is my home,” he tells The Indian Sun, “but the reception in Melbourne has been even better. People here are hungry for this kind of work—they’re deeply connecting to it.”
Set in a remote Indian valley, The Wrong Gods, co-directed with Hannah Goodwin, probes the collision of ancient traditions and globalisation. At its heart, the play is inspired by Shakthidharan’s time spent in the Narmada Valley a decade ago, during the satyagrahas against dam construction that threatened indigenous land and culture.
“It was kind of prophetic,” he reflects. “Those communities were facing what many of us are about to face.” The play’s villagers grapple with displacement and ecological rupture, themes Shakthidharan frames as a “cautionary tale” for an era of climate crises and cultural erosion.
“I felt a responsibility to honour them, and to explore that story as a cautionary tale.”
Despite its intimate format, four actors, 90 minutes, the play’s emotional and philosophical breadth is vast. With lyrical language and layered characters, The Wrong Gods doesn’t merely recount a political struggle; it offers a meditation on the human condition, our fractured relationship with nature, and the eternal tug between the sacred and the secular.
Shakthidhara beleives theatre lets us uncover truths we often can’t express while living them. “The lyricism and poetry in The Wrong Gods is a way to dive into different ways that people view the world and arrive at their deepest, truest way of viewing it and talking to the other characters in the play about that. And I hope that that lyricism and poetry helps audiences view and think about the world in an even more deeply true way.”
Shakthidharan’s Sri Lankan Tamil heritage and Hindu upbringing anchor his storytelling. “I cannot divorce myself from my ancestry. I am Tamil. I am Sri Lankan. And I grew up immersed in Hindu culture and thinking and philosophy,” he says.
He loves weaving the depth and sophistication of South Asian thought into contemporary settings. For Shaktidharan, storytelling is a way to connect ancient wisdom to the present. With Counting and Cracking, The Jungle and the Sea, and now The Wrong Gods, it’s not just about celebrating culture, but a way for everyone to view the world through those eyes and through those thoughts.
“And it’s a gift our community can give to the world—in the same way that each group of people can share the gifts of their community—it’s about inviting others in, offering a lens through which they can see the world, and perhaps even themselves, a little differently.”
That ethos of universality through specificity permeates The Wrong Gods. Whether you’re familiar with the Narmada Valley or not, the play’s core questions resonate: What does community mean today? Who gets to decide a community’s future? How can ancient knowledge inform modern dilemmas? And the play invites us to talk about that, long after the curtain falls.
Though smaller in scale than his epic Counting and Cracking, The Wrong Gods retains Shakthidharan’s hallmark blend of the personal and political. Co-produced by Melbourne Theatre Company and Belvoir, the play marks a rare mainstage Australian work set entirely in rural India.
That specificity is its universality for Shakthidharan. For a city built on unceded land, the play’s question—who decides a community’s future?—resonate sharply.
With his background spanning writing, directing, producing, and composing, Shakthidharan believes his many roles in a production allow him to see the work as a cohesive whole. He likens the process to sculpting: writing, co-directing, and collaborating with sound designers and musicians each involve shaping a different part of the same piece.
As for what’s next, he hints at a new Sri Lankan epic and more works delving into our relationship with nature. But first, he’s revelling in Melbourne’s embrace. “I’m just so honoured by how Melbourne’s embraced our work, and we can’t wait to continue that relationship and bring more work to you all in.”
The Wrong Gods runs until 12 July. Click here for more details.
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