Belvoir St Theatre will bring The Jungle and the Sea back to its Upstairs Theatre from 11 July to 2 August 2026, with S. Shakthidharan and Eamon Flack’s multi-award-winning work returning after the international success of Counting and Cracking.
Written and directed by Shakthidharan and Flack, the play follows Gowrie, a mother trying to keep her family alive as violence escalates between the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. She sends her husband and one daughter to Australia for safety, then takes her other two daughters through the jungles of northern Sri Lanka to find her estranged son.
The production is drawn from real-life testimonies and shaped by threads of the Mahabharatha and Antigone. It follows one family’s separation, grief and search for peace against the background of war.
Belvoir Artistic Director Eamon Flack says: “It’s very special to bring The Jungle and the Sea back to the stage. When we first made this work, it felt urgent; now, it feels even more prescient. The play speaks about family, displacement, grief and survival, and those themes continue to resonate deeply. To revisit this story with such an extraordinary group of artists is a privilege.”
Shakthidharan said the work sits alongside Counting and Cracking, but is focused on those who endured the war itself.
“Counting and Cracking was written in honour of those who tried to halt Sri Lanka’s descent into civil war. The Jungle and the Sea is written in honour of those who lived through the war, and the ways they found to uphold their dignity even when everything else was falling down around them.”
The Jungle and the Sea features a cast including Bharatanatyam dancer and guru Anandavalli, Prakash Belawadi, Emma Harvie, Nadie Kammallaweera, Shiv Palekar, Dushan Philips, Rajan Velu and Kalieaswari Srinivasan.
The return season will be co-produced by Kurinji and Lingalayam Dance Company. Music is by Arjunan Puveendran, performed with Indu Balachandran. Dale Ferguson is set and costume designer, Damien Cooper is lighting designer and Steve Francis is sound designer.
The Sydney Morning Herald described the production as “extraordinary” and said it “dares to dream on an epic scale”.
The Jungle and the Sea runs at the Upstairs Theatre, Belvoir St Theatre, from 11 July to 2 August 2026. Tickets are available through Belvoir St Theatre or by phone on (02) 9699 3444.
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