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Counting and Cracking - Carriageworks (NSW)
Presented by Belvoir St Theatre. By S.Shakthidharan with Eamon Flack. Directed by Eamon Flack with S.Shakthidharan
This is storytelling on a grand scale; a privilege and a pleasure to enjoy Australian theatre in such a powerful production
Reviewed by Kate Gaul
Carriageworks, Eveleigh
Until 21st July, 2024
Inside a custom-built theatre structure in Carriageworks, this epic play, written by S.Shakthidharan and directed by Eamon Flack, Counting and Cracking tells a seering multigenerational and multicultural story of war and diaspora, family and politics. It splits its focus between several time periods and across continents – from the first stirrings of civil unrest in Sri Lanka around 1956 to the hardening of the damning Migration Act in Australia in 2004. A cast of 19 performers from six different countries play a total of 50 characters over three hours. It’s a privilege and a pleasure to enjoy Australian theatre made on this scale.
Having premiered five years ago as part of Sydney Festival it has played as part of this year’s Melbourne’s Rising festival and now to Sydney for a second run. The show has toured to Adelaide and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals, and in September this year will feature at New York’s Public theatre. Just the sheer scale of this undertaking is breathtaking.
Counting and Cracking, Carriageworks (2024). Images by Brett Boardman
The story begins as 21-year-old Siddhartha (Shiv Palenkar), stripped to the waist and dressed in a white veshti, symbolically submerges his head in the Georges River to complete the last rights for his Amama (Grandmother). He doesn’t understand what’s going on – because even though he’s a Tamil Sri Lankan man with a Singhalese name, he doesn’t speak either language. He prefers the luxuriant salty breeze that surrounds his place in Coogee to the smell of curry leaves at his mother’s house in Pendle Hill.
His mother Radha (the outstanding Nadie Kammallaweeram) fled Sri Lanka in 1983 when her husband, Thirru (a moving performance by Antonythasan Jesuthasan) was presumed dead during the devastating events of an anti-Tamil pogrom that occurred in Sri Lanka during July 1983 (known as Black July). Radha has never revealed to Siddhartha what happened at that time or that the events coincided with the loss of her beloved grandfather, Apah (the brilliant Prakash Belwadi). We learn that she keeps Apah’s ashes in a tupperware container under her bed, unable to reconcile with the conflict that forced her to abandon their family home in Colombo. She lives an ordinary, everyday Australian life: drinking wine after work, nagging her son, and enlisting his neighbour (a stunning Rodney Afif) to install her new air-conditioner.
...creates a vibrant world whether it’s Sri Lanka or the beach at Coogee
Their world is turned upside down when Radha receives a call from an old friend Hasaanga (Sukhbir Singh Walia), a journalist from Colombo. The call recalls the dark world of the past and she has to share with Siddhartha what she has kept secret.
There’s a lot of political plot as well as heart felt human interaction, kept in balance by an incredible ensemble of actors who are literally sprinting between scenes, changing props and furnishings and often costumes. Shout out to Aussie actor Abbie-Lee Lewis who plays Siddhartha’s girlfriend Lily as well as being part of the ensemble. As an outside, she delivers an important counterpoint to the story.
Director Flack has said that this production is an example of rough theatre – “a playful poor theatre”– where the actors create the world of the play using their bodies and the paltry props at hand. It creates a vibrant world whether it’s Sri Lanka or the beach at Coogee.
...resonates loudly with contemporary political events.
One nice touch of the production is the way in which any of the five non-English languages are translated for the audience by the cast who are often onstage as an ensemble. A much better idea than subtitles.
Up high, three musicians provide a live soundtrack that is joyous and supportive of the action, with instruments including violin, flute, tabla percussion and a long traditional drum.
This is a sobering view of Australia and although largely big hearted in its storytelling there are at least two moments of sheer horror that have the audience reeling in their seats. We must never forget the hardships faced by refugees and what it is to leave one’s homeland under the cloud of war. Counting and Cracking may be set in the past but if resonates loudly with contemporary political events.
CAST
RODNEY AFIF
ISMET & ENSEMBLE
PRAKASH BELAWADI
APAH & ENSEMBLE
SENURI CHANDRANI
SWATHI & ENSEMBLE
ANTONYTHASAN JESUTHASAN
THIRRU & ENSEMBLE
NADIE KAMMALLAWEERA
RADHA & ENSEMBLE
AHILAN KARUNAHARAN
SUNIL & ENSEMBLE
ABBIE-LEE LEWIS
LILY & ENSEMBLE
GANDHI MACINTYRE
PRIEST & ENSEMBLE
RADHIKA MUDALIYAR
YOUNG RADHA & ENSEMBLE
SHIV PALEKAR
SIDDHARTHA & ENSEMBLE
DUSHAN PHILIPS
VINSANDA & ENSEMBLE
NIPUNI SHARADA
NAHINSA & ENSEMBLE
KAIVALYA SUVARNA
YOUNG THIRRU & ENSEMBLE
RAJAN VELU
BALA & ENSEMBLE
SUKANIA VENUGOPAL
AACHA & ENSEMBLE
SUKHBIR SINGH WALIA (SUNNY)
HASAANGA & ENSEMBLE
MUSICIANS
KRANTHI KIRAN MUDIGONDA
JANAKAN SUTHANTHIRARAJ
VENKHATESH SRITHARAN
CREATIVES S. SHAKTHIDHARAN
WRITER AND ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR
EAMON FLACK
DIRECTOR AND ASSOCIATE WRITER
ANANDAVALLI
CHOREOGRAPHER, COSTUME AND CULTURAL ADVISOR
DALE FERGUSON
SET AND COSTUME DESIGNER
DAMIEN COOPER
LIGHTING DESIGNER
STEFAN GREGORY
COMPOSER AND SOUND DESIGNER
STEVE FRANCIS
ASSOCIATE SOUND DESIGNER
NIGEL POULTON
FIGHT AND MOVEMENT DIRECTOR
LAURA FARRELL
VOCAL COACH
THINESH THILLAINADARAJAH
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT COORDINATOR
AARON BEACH
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER
SIMONE PARROTT
TOUR PRODUCER
BARRY SEARLE
PRODUCTION MANAGER
EMILY OADES
STAGE MANAGER
SHERYL TALMAGE
STAGE MANAGER
AYAH TAYEH
DEPUTY STAGE MANAGER
MIA KANZAKI
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER
THOMAS HOUGHTON
HEAD MECHANIST
STEPHEN HENDY
HEAD OF LIGHTING
GAYDA DE MESA
HEAD OF AUDIO/ FRONT OF HOUSE ENGINEER
CHLOE GREAVES
WARDROBE SUPERVISOR
RICHARD WHITEHOUSE
HEAD OF PRODUCTION
BELINDA CRAWFORD
HEAD OF WARDROBE
