The Jungle and the Sea

Following the ground-breaking international success of Counting and Cracking, creative powerhouses, S. Shakthidharan and Eamon Flack’s multi award-winning The Jungle and The Sea returns to Belvoir St Theatre from 11th July – 2nd August 2026.

When violence escalates between the Sinhalese-dominated Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Gowrie does everything she can to keep her family alive. She sends her husband and one daughter to Australia for safety. She takes her other two daughters to search through the jungles of northern Sri Lanka for her estranged son. But how does a family come together again when the world around them is tearing itself apart? How is peace made? How can we honour the dead?

Drawn from real life testimonies, and woven with threads of the Mahabharatha and Antigone, this is the epic story of one family’s love, caught in the crosshairs of war.

This epic work features a stellar cast including Bharatanatyam dancer and guru Anandavalli, alongside Prakash Belawadi, Emma Harvie, Nadie Kammallaweera, Shiv Palekar, Dushan Philips and Rajan Velu, and Kalieaswari Srinivasan.

Co-produced by Kurinji and Lingalayam Dance Company, The Jungle and the Sea features music by Arjunan Puveendran, performed with Indu Balachandran, with set and costume designed by Dale Ferguson, lighting design by Damien Cooper and sound design by Steve Francis.

Don’t miss the return of this “extraordinary” production that “dares to dream on an epic scale” (Sydney Morning Herald).