Review: The Jungle and the Sea at Belvoir

Review by Michelle Sutton 

Written and directed by S. Shakthidharan and Eamon Flack, The Jungle and the Sea tells the story of a family’s experience of the Sri Lankan civil war, following them across countries and years from 1995-2026. The Jungle and The Sea premiered at Belvoir back in 2022 to much acclaim, and has returned for another season due to popular demand. The story is set against the backdrop of real events that occurred when conflict escalated between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam. 

Shakthidharan and Flack’s script achieves a gargantuan task: to balance presenting decades of history and political and cultural context with an intimate and personal portrayal of family relationships. The equally smart and tender writing presents fully developed, three-dimensional characters who evolve and change over time as they experience the world and the war in different ways. The play runs for 2 hours and 55 minutes with two intervals. This allows the audience adequate time to process what they are seeing. The script builds and builds with the peak of tension at the end of the second act setting up the third act with a great weight of expectation; that the final act will resolve the 14 years of fighting, waiting and searching. Shakthidharan and Flack stick the landing, delivering an emotional climax that is utterly devastating. The third act features a rousing, spirited and haunting performance from Kalieaswari Srinivasan. 

The Jungle and the Sea boasts one of the most talented ensembles you will find in Australian theatre. The extraordinary commitment and skill of the actors to take on these characters, portray believable familial bonds, to show growth and ageing and change over a period of decades, whilst showing developing scars of trauma, violence, separation and fear is nothing short of awe-inspiring. Each actor brings something totally real, raw and devastating to the stage. With the sparsely dressed stage and simple costumes there is nowhere to hide, the actors are fully exposed and doing all of the heavy lifting supported by excellent writing. Prakash Belawadi delivers a deeply effecting performance of the patriarch of the family. His scenes opposite the brilliant Emma Harvie, playing his youngest daughter Lakshmi are touchingly realistic, funny and human. Anandavelli gives a masterfully refined performance as the mother of the family who’s quiet determination is the engine driving the play. Nadie Kammallaweera, Shiv Palekar and Dushan Philips round out the impressive cast. This play is one of the best existing examples of considered, complex writing and extraordinary talented actors coming together to create something magical. 

The play is accompanied by live music composed by Arjun Puveendran and performed by himself and Indu Balachandran. The sounds of the instruments and vocals fit so seamlessly into the story you forget that it is not naturally occurring alongside the action. The production design is simple with the stage bare for most of the play. The main feature is the rotating stage on which the ensemble walks for the majority of the almost-3 hour runtime. Movement and displacement are key parts of the story, and the actors spend much of their time, walking, marching, running, to and away from each other, walking in search of hope, connection and peace.

The final scene of The Jungle and the Sea will stay in my mind for many years to come. The theatre became completely silent except for the sound of rain falling outside and hitting the roof. I looked across the seats and saw the audience transfixed, with people reaching for tissues and wiping their eyes. The closing scene somehow perfectly encapsulated everything the epic story was about, love, grief, family, culture, religion, loss and survival. This is Anandavalli’s moment which she powerfully and masterfully owns, as the matriarch of the family finally removes her blindfold after 30 years, upon seeing her children together once again and dances the traditional Tamil Bharatanatyam. I still get chills up and down my body when I think of the lights going down on this final tableaux, the mighty stoicism, strength and love of a mother and the pang of the injustice and cruelty war and lost innocent lives. It was an overwhelming, visceral sensation. It is a testament to the intentionality, technical excellence, and layers of heart in this show. The Jungle and The Sea is an incredible piece of theatre and is a reminder of the reason why the world will always need good plays. It is a gem of history, authenticity and creativity and a privilege to witness. I recommend everybody see it as soon as they possibly can. 

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