#melbourne REVIEW - The Jungle and the Sea at the Southbank Theatre, The Sumner until 12th September 2026
Anastasia was moved by this piece, here’s her review: “Destruction, bundles of chaos from the wrath of many tears Sri Lanka apart, including the families within it. Gowrie takes a vow, despite doing everything she can to ensure the safety of her family, and makes the ultimate decision to blindfold herself until her family is once again reunited. Through war and the escalation of violence, love continues to thrive, and somehow good can be found despite everything going on. The question that’s left is how can family come together and find true peace, with not only with itself but with the world, after what has happened? ‘The Jungle and the Sea’ is an excellently crafted stage performance that allows the audience to live through decades of Civil War that Sri Lanka had endured. A deep play that focuses on the human aspects of the world, and one family caught between love and pain. Now showing at the Southbank Theatre.”
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S. Shakthidharan and Eamon Flack’s moving follow-up to the much-lauded Counting and Cracking follows one family’s epic journey to retain their dignity and their safety against the backdrop of Sri Lanka’s civil war.
From the visionary team behind the multi-award-winning Counting and Cracking – S. Shakthidharan and long-time collaborator Eamon Flack – comes ‘another achievement of sustained feeling and empathy’ (The Guardian).
When an unexpected act of destruction splits her family apart, Gowrie takes a radical vow of defiance: she blindfolds herself, refusing to see the world again until her loved ones are reunited. This sets the stage for one family’s epic journey to retain their dignity and safety, as they live through Sri Lanka’s decades-long civil war.
Event Details:
Dates: 14 Aug — 12 Sep 2026
Duration: Approx. 2 hours and 50 minutes, including 2 intervals.
Location: Southbank Theatre, The Sumner
Warnings: This production contains themes of war and trauma, sounds of artillery, the use of haze and loud sound effects