Counting and Cracking
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'In Tamil we don't say goodbye. Only, I will go and come back.'
S. Shakthidharan's extraordinary multilingual play (English, Tamil and Sinhalese) Counting and Cracking traverses countries and decades to bring us an epic tale of family, love and politics.
On the banks of a river in Sydney, Radha and her son Siddhartha release the ashes of Radha's mother so she can be at peace with her ancestors. Into the water go the particles of one life, but unknown to Siddharta, Radha still holds onto the ashes of her beloved grandfather, brought with her when she left Sri Lanka 21 years before. And so begins a story that spirals out across Australia and Sri Lanka, taking in four generations of a family and their connection to a country that continues to give them equal measures of sorrow and joy.
It is an exhilarating, moving and necessary tribute to people of all backgrounds who are forced to live in exile and build a new home from the heart up.
යක්
'A story of survival and hope, of human connectedness, and our deep desire to understand three things - our history, our identity and what "home" means to us.' - Community response.
S Shakthidharan
S. Shakthidharan is a western Sydney storyteller with Sri Lankan heritage and Tamil ancestry. He's a writer, director and producer of theatre and film, and composer of original music. Belvoir: The Jungle and the Sea (co-written with Eamon Flack) and Counting and Cracking (associate writer Eamon Flack). He has in development a new play with Belvoir and a co-commission with the Melbourne Theatre Company and Sydney Theatre Company. He has a feature film with Felix Media and a new TV project also in development. Shakthi's memoir Gather Up Your World In One Long Breath comes out in September 2025 with Powerhouse Publishing. His debut play Counting and Cracking received critical, commercial and community acclaim. The script won the Victorian Premier's Literature Prize and the NSW Premier's Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting; the production won seven Helpmann and three Sydney Theatre Awards. Shakthi's most recent play The Jungle and the Sea, again was met with rave reviews and had a profound impact on the Sri Lankan community. It won the 2024 Victorian Premier's Drama Prize and four Sydney Theatre Awards including Best Mainstage Production. Shakthi is the Director of Kurinji, was previously Director of Co-Curious, and was Founder and Artistic Director of CuriousWorks from 2003-2018. He is a Creative Australia and Sidney Myer Fellow, and a recipient of the Philip Parsons and Kirk Robson awards.
More by S Shakthidharan
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