Counting
& Cracking
எண்ணிக்கை, இல்லையேல் கையோங்கு
ගණන් නොගන්නේ නම් ගණන් කරන්න
Receiving ★★★★★ from The Times, Counting and Cracking is “a multi-layered, multi-generational theatrical epic” (The Arts Desk). Hailed as a New York Times Critics’ Pick, the show has won 14 major awards, including Helpmann Awards for Best Production and Best Direction.
Described by The Guardian as “an absorbing Sri Lankan family odyssey”, this internationally acclaimed production tells an extraordinary story spanning four generations, two countries and nearly fifty years is “a vital tale for our times” (The Scotsman).
House of Oz in association with Soho Theatre presents
a Belvoir St Theatre and Kurinji co-production
COUNTING & CRACKING
எண்ணிக்கை, இல்லையேல் கையோங்கு
ගණන් නොගන්නේ නම් ගණන් කරන්න
Writer: S. Shakthidharan with Eamon Flack
Director: Eamon Flack with S. Shakthidharan
Presented as part of LIFT (London International Festival of Theatre)
From the writer, S. Shakthidrharan
“In Counting and Cracking I hope to provide audiences with a new story to believe in: about Australia, about Sri Lanka. It’s a story in which migrants are not asked to discard parts of themselves to fit in, but instead are asked to present their full selves, to expand our idea of what Australia can be. It’s a story of how the politics of division can win the battle, but never the war, around how power is gained in this world. It’s a story in which love may not triumph over adversity, but through sheer persistence and resilience can eventually overcome it. And finally it's a story about reconciliation: between parents and children, between neighbours and enemies, between your new home and your old home, between society and its institutions.”
Learning zone
about the play
On the banks of a suburban Sydney river, Radha and her son Siddhartha gather to release the ashes of Radha’s mother. When a phone call arrives from Colombo, a remarkable family story comes vividly to life. Moving between Sri Lanka and Australia, from 1956 to 2004, Counting and Cracking follows one Sri Lankan-Australian family across generations. Told with warmth, humour and breathtaking theatricality, it is a story of family, identity, love and the ties that connect us.
Brought to life by 19 performers from six different countries and told across English, Tamil and Sinhalese, with live translation into English, Counting and Cracking is written by S. Shakthidharan and directed by Eamon Flack.
Don't miss your chance to experience this unforgettable theatrical event coming to Soho Theatre Walthamstow Summer 2027.
The Times ★★★★★ “A gripping dramatisation”
The Arts Desk ★★★★★ “A crucial work for our times”
The Herald ★★★★ “A beautiful spectacle”
The Scotsman ★★★★ “An Australian family story told with purpose and passion”
Arts Hub Sydney ★★★★★ “Wonderful”
Time Out Sydney ★★★★★ Critics Pick “ Masterful”
Time Out Melbourne ★★★★★ “The play’s a marvel”
The Guardian Melbourne ★★★★ “One of the great Australian plays”
Voted as the best Australian play of the 21st century by ArtsHub, 13 November 2024
Creatives
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S. Shakthidharan
WRITER
S. Shakthidharan is an Australian storyteller with Sri Lankan heritage and Tamil ancestry. He’s a writer, director and producer of theatre and film, as well as a composer and performer of original music.
His plays Counting and Cracking and The Jungle and the Sea (with Eamon Flack), and The Wrong Gods have won critical, commercial and community acclaim. Counting and Cracking (“One of the great Australian plays” - The Guardian) has toured extensively and won a New York Times Critics Pick. The script won the Victorian Premier’s Literature Prize and the NSW Premier’s Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting. The production won 7 Helpmann Awards including Best New Australian Work and Best Direction of a Play.
The Jungle and the Sea won the 2024 Victorian Premier's Drama Prize and 4 Sydney Theatre Awards including Best Mainstage Production and Best New Australian Work.
The Wrong Gods was shortlisted for the NSW Premiers’ Prize and three Green Room awards.
Gather Up Your World In One Long Breath, with Powerhouse Publishing, is his debut book. It won the NSW Premiers’ Multicultural Prize and was shortlisted for the Prime Ministers’ Prize for Non-Fiction. The book will be accompanied by a major year-long, companion artwork with the Museum.
Shakthi’s debut feature film The Laugh of Lakshmi is currently in production, coming to cinemas in 2027. He has plays, TV series and multi-disciplinary works in development. He’s the Director of Kurinji, was previously Director of Co-Curious, and was Founder and Artistic Director of CuriousWorks from 2003-2018.
Shakthi is a Creative Australia and Sidney Myer Fellow, and a recipient of the Phillip Parson’s and Kirk Robson awards. In 2026 he won the prestigious global Windham-Campbell Prize for Drama.
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EAMON FLACK
DIRECTOR
Eamon Flack is the Artistic Director of Belvoir St Theatre and a leading Australian director, writer and dramaturg. His directing credits include Counting and Cracking (with Associate Director S. Shakthidharan), The Jungle and the Sea (co-directed with S. Shakthidharan), Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, The Master and Margarita, Angels in America, August: Osage County, The Glass Menagerie, Life of Galileo, Ivanov, The Cherry Orchard, King Lear, As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Jason de Santis’ Tiwi Islands panto Wulamanayuwi and the Seven Pamanui.
His writing credits include Associate Writer of S. Shakthidharan’s Counting and Cracking and co-writer with S. Shakthidharan of The Jungle and the Sea; adaptations of Olga Tokarczuk’s Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead, Mikhail Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, Helen Garner’s The Spare Room, Christina Stead’s The Man Who Loved Children, Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard and Ivanov, Gorky’s Summerfolk, Sophocles’ Antigone and Ibsen’s Ghosts; co-adapter with Leah Purcell of Ruby Langford Ginibi’s Don’t Take Your Love To Town, and co-deviser of Beautiful One Day with artists from ILBIJERRI, version 1.0, and the community of Palm Island.
For orchestral concert he has adapted and directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream alongside Mendelssohn’s score for the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Belvoir St Theatre conducted by Simone Young, and directed and co-created Beethoven and Bridgetower with Anna Goldsworthy, Rita Dove and Richard Tognetti for the Australian Chamber Orchestra.
His work has received multiple Helpmann, Sydney Theatre and Green Room awards, and, with S. Shakthidharan, the Victorian Literary Prize, The Victorian Premier’s Award for Drama, and the Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting.
Eamon was born in Singapore, grew up in Singapore, Darwin, Cootamundra and Brisbane, and trained as an actor at WAAPA.
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Co-commissioned by Confederation of Australian International Arts Festivals Inc, Sydney Festival, Adelaide Festival and Belvoir St Theatre. Originally Co-produced with Co-Curious and developed with the support of Curious Works and the philanthropic support of the Gamechangers.