The Jungle and the Sea
Co-Writer/Co-Director: S. Shakthidharan
Co-Writer/Co-Director: Eamon Flack
Belvoir Street Theatre
July 11 – August 2, 2026
Making a return to the Belvoir Theatre, the Jungle and the Sea is set during the drawn-out Sri Lankan civil war which ended in 2009, and has reaped many awards for co-writers, S. Shakthidharan and Eamon Flack. It is also a prequel to their equally awarded earlier success, Counting and Cracking, which had an airing earlier this year. The narrative focusses on the devastation wrought by warfare on the island’s population by illustrating one family’s struggle for survival across 25 years.
The matriarch, a Tamil mother, Gowrie (Anandavalli), vows to wear a blindfold until her son, Ahilan (Shiv Palekar), who has gone to join the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (known as the LTTE), is reunited with the family. Some of the family has already suffered serious injuries when the church they sheltered in was bombed – Siva (Prakash Belawadi), the father, lost his sight and one of the daughters has a hand injury.
The Singhalese majority government had dropped leaflets warning people to take shelter in churches and hospitals, yet these are the very areas that get bombed, leading to devastating losses of life. The suspicion arises that these warnings may be politically motivated to gain the upper hand in the conflict.
The family have already decided to emigrate to Australia, and the narrative jumps back and forward in time, between 2009 and the present, with scenes relating to the war and more up-to-date ones, like the exchange between Siva, and Lakshmi (Emma Harvie) his daughter, in an upmarket Sydney restaurant, adding a refreshing touch of humour.
After the bombing in the church, the sisters and Gowrie go in search of their estranged brother, heading towards an area from which they can get passage on a boat. It is an area between a lagoon and the sea and is teeming with refugees hoping to get a passage on one of the Red Cross boats. It is a long harrowing journey on foot, in which they encounter and are harassed by soldiers from both sides of the conflict. Tragically, brother and sister, Ahilan and Mahdu (Nadie Kammallaweera), are killed in one of the clashes.
Abi (Kalieaswari Srinivasan) wants to perform funeral rites for her brother, despite being warned it would be considered treason, echoing an Antigone-like dilemma. She insists and loses her life. Hence the first line in the play when a messenger runs in and announces, “They have found the bones”.
The play closes with a bookended gesture, with Gowrie performing the same Bharatanatyam dance as at the opening.
Musicians Arjunan Puveendran and Steve Francis provide an atmospheric soundscape with drums and vocals adding emphasis and tension throughout, the drums effectively creating the sounds of explosions and gunshots.
All the action takes place on a continuously revolving stage (Dale Ferguson) moving at different speeds as required – this constant movement creates the sense of displacement and homelessness intrinsic to the play.
A complex historical canvas, The Jungle and the Sea is difficult to follow at times, but the program provides a useful summary for the audience. The story is deeply moving in its length and tragedy, with the remnants of the family finally finding refuge in Australia, despite their terrible losses.
