It was a three hour journey and worth every minute of it. Written and directed by S. Shakthidharan and Eamon Flack, the audience travelled with a Sri Lankan family who represented all aspects of the country’s differing religions, cultures and approaches to conflict, family and life. Backed by haunting live music, sensitively and beautifully played and sung by Indu Balachandran and Arjuna Puveendran, we were immersed in the conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers (1983 to 2009), as the family rushed back and forth between so-called safe zones seeking security, home and peace.
The cast of Prakash Belawadi, Emma Harvie, Nadie Kammallaweera, Shiv Palvar, Dushan Philips, Kalieaswari Srinivasan and Rajan Velu told the story of a hidden war often forgotten. All were superb as witnesses to their own tragedies and to those other travellers on the same road looking for safety. The mother, played by Anandavalli, who eloquently and delicately expressed her grief and desires through dance, chose only to see her whole family regardless of the consequences. The father gently living in a civilised past with his own belief system shattered by tragedy. The three sisters all with one foot in past traditions, seeking to move forward into the future of science and modernity, all acted with intensity and truth. There is a splitting of the family as the father and one daughter manage to escape to Sydney while a brother is brain-washed in a time of anger leading to a family searching to recover him. As each faces their destiny, the final dance and mournful song left the audience silent for seconds followed by a standing ovation.
The set was a simple revolving stage with props cleverly representing change. The actors stepped on and off as they needed to walk to the next safe zone and also when their emotions were heightened. Small props representing buses, planes and even the Sydney Harbour Bridge symbolised the passing of time or arriving at a new place. A signpost alerted the audience to the year and the length of the war. The actors carried suitcases and baggage representing their changing circumstances and life including a chicken, all remnants of their previous identity and peaceful existence.
Inevitably, without giving the story away, each character questions his or her belief system and who is to blame for it. Which side caused the issue and how had the war been triggered? What was the actual role of the UN who left their local employees behind and of course, the use of weapons. As the son-in-law states perfectly to his father trying to justify his government and actions, “order is just violence done neatly” and each character presented a different facet of who created the conflict and who was complicit.
To book tickets to The Jungle And The Sea, please visit https://belvoir.com.au/productions/the-jungle-and-the-sea-2026/.
Photographer: Brett Boardman
