COUNTING
AND CRACKING

  • 28 Jun – 21 Jul 24 Carriageworks
  • Approx. 3 Hours & 30 Minutes (Incl. 2 Intervals)

COUNTING
AND CRACKING

At Carriageworks

எண்ணிக்கை, இல்லையேல் கையோங்கு

ගණන් නොගන්නේ නම් ගණන් කරන්න

By S.Shakthidharan with Eamon Flack
Directed by Eamon Flack with S.Shakthidharan

  • Venue Carriageworks
  • Dates 28 Jun – 21 Jul 24
  • Duration Approx. 3 Hours & 30 Minutes (Incl. 2 Intervals)
  • Content warning

    Utilises theatrical haze and contains smoking on stage.

    Should you wish to speak to a member of staff regarding running times, content warnings or any other show related queries, our box office can be contacted on 02 9699 3444.

  • Co-Produced with
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  • Presented at
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The internationally-acclaimed epic returns to Sydney, this time at Carriageworks.

On the banks of the Georges River, Radha and her son Siddhartha release the ashes of Radha’s mother – their final connection to the past, to Sri Lanka and its struggles. Now they are free to embrace their lives in Australia. But a phone call from Colombo brings the past spinning back to life, and we’re plunged into an epic story of love and political strife, of home and exile, of parents and children.

Featuring nineteen performers from six countries, Counting and Cracking follows the journey of a Sri Lankan-Australian family over four generations, from 1956 to 2004.

Winner of 14 major awards including Helpmann Awards for Best Production and Best Direction, Counting and Cracking returns triumphant from the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and Edinburgh Festivals, for a strictly limited season at Carriageworks.

It’s no exaggeration to say this show has changed many of our lives, and Belvoir as a company. It’s a huge, generous marvel of a show, and we’re very proud of it. If you couldn’t get to it five years ago, we’re rapt we can give its home city another chance to see what everyone was raving about. – Eamon

Co-commissioned by Confederation of Australian International Arts Festivals Inc, Sydney Festival, Adelaide Festival and Belvoir. Originally co-produced with Co-Curious.

Stay tuned for 2024 touring dates – we’re looking at you, Melbourne!

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Powerful Epic of Love and War, Exile and Reconciliation The Australian

Performance Times

Save with Season Tickets!

With 4-play packages starting from $182* plus a range of ticket types and concessions, there is a package to suit everyone!

General release tickets go on sale 20th February.

*Preview 4-play package

Join Us

TEAM

  • S. Shakthidharan
    Writer and Associate Director
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    Shakthi is a western Sydney storyteller with Sri Lankan heritage and Tamil ancestry. He’s a writer, director and composer of original music. His debut play Counting and Cracking (Belvoir and Co-Curious), received critical, commercial and community acclaim at the 2019 Sydney and Adelaide Festivals. The script won the Victorian Premier’s Literature Prize and the NSW […]

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  • Eamon Flack
    Director and Associate Writer
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    Eamon Flack is the Artistic Director of Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney. He is a director, writer, dramaturg and script developer for stage and screen.  Eamon was born in Singapore and grew up in Singapore, Darwin, Cootamundra and Brisbane. He has a BA (English and History) from the University of Queensland, and trained as an actor […]

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  • A cast of 16 including

  • Rodney Afif
  • Prakash Belawadi
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    Prakash is an Indian theater, film, television and media personality, teacher, activist and journalist from Bengaluru, Karnataka. Born into a family of theatre and cinema artistes, Belawadi obtained a degree in mechanical engineering from University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering in 1983, but has devoted the most part of his years to the stage, cinema, journalism […]

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  • Antonythasan Jesuthasan
  • Nadie Kammallaweera
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    Nadie appeared in Belvoir’s critically acclaimed production of Counting and Cracking in 2019. In 2021, Nadie appeared in another Belvoir production, The Cherry Orchard, directed by Eamon Flack. Other theatre credits include Kalumali (Stages Theatre Group, Colombo), House of Bernada Alba (directed by Priyantha Sirikumara), Blood Wedding (directed by Kaushalya Fernando), Snow White and the […]

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  • Ahi Karunaharan
  • Abbie-Lee Lewis
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    Abbie-Lee Lewis is a Kalkadoon actress who trained on the Aboriginal Theatre and Acting courses at the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts, Perth.Her credits include Seanna Van Helten’s Fallen, directed by Penny Harpham, for Sport for Jove; Our Town, directed by Clare Watson, for the Black Swan State Theatre Company of Western Australia; a […]

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  • Gandhi McIntyre
  • Shiv Palekar
  • Sukhbir Singh Walia
  • Kaivalya Suvarna
  • Nipuni Sharada
  • Rajan Velu
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    Rajan Velu is a graduate of Actors Centre Australia and has worked extensively across Theatre, Television, and Film in Australia and the United States. Rajan’s theatre credits include Counting and Cracking (Belvoir), Life of Galileo (Belvoir), Norm and Ahmed (Australian Theatre Live), The Last Highway (Urban Theatre Projects), The Drum (Sydney Opera House), Friends in […]

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  • Sukania Venugopal
  • Musicians

  • Kranthi Kiran Mudigonda
  • Janakan Raj
  • Venkhatesh Sritharan
  • Creatives

  • Anandavalli
    Costume and Cultural Advisor
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    Anandavalli has achieved world acclaim as a dancer throughout her celebrated international career spanning 45 years. She has been taught and nurtured by the foremost Gurus in the field of Bharatha Natyam and Kuchipudi.Migrating to Australia she founded the Lingalayam Dance Academy in 1987 and the company in 1996. Her opus includes an impressive repertoire […]

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  • Dale Ferguson
    Set and Costume Designer
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    Dale has designed many Belvoir productions including Sami in Paradise, The Blind Giant is Dancing, Radiance, Brothers Wreck, Summer of the Seventeenth Doll, Neighbourhood Watch, The Seagull, Measure for Measure, The Power of Yes, Antigone, Exit the King, Peribanez, and The Judas Kiss (Toronto, West End and Brooklyn Academy of Music). Dale’s other credits include […]

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  • Damien Cooper
    Lighting Designer
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    Damien designs lighting for Dance, Theatre, Opera and Film.  Designs for Belvoir include Into the Woods, Light Shining In Buckinghamshire, Wayside Bride, Things I Know To Be True, Counting and Cracking, Mark Colvin’s Kidney, The Dog/The Cat, Radiance, The Glass Menagerie, Coranderrk, Miss Julie, Stories I Want to Tell You in Person, Cat on a Hot Tin […]

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  • Stefan Gregory
    Sound Designer and Composer
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    Stefan Gregory is an Australian composer and sound designer for theatre, dance and film. His recent productions include: Medea (Brooklyn Academy of Music, NY), Yerma (The Young Vic, London), Medea, Ibsen Huis, Husbands And Wives (Toneelgroep Amsterdam), Drei Schwestern, Engel In Amerika, Medea (Theatre Basel), Trilogie de Vengeance, Les Trois Soeurs (L’Odeon, Paris), Avalanche (Barbican, […]

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AWARDS & ACCOLADES

2020
NSW PREMIER’S LITERARY AWARDS – NICK ENRIGHT PRIZE FOR PLAYWRITING
S. Shakthidharan & Eamon Flack
2020
VICTORIAN PREMIER’S LITERARY AWARD
S. Shakthidharan and Eamon Flack – Belvoir / Co-Curious
2020
VICTORIAN PREMIER’S AWARD FOR DRAMA
S. Shakthidharan and Eamon Flack – Belvoir / Co-Curious
2019
HELPMANN AWARD – BEST PRODUCTION OF A PLAY
Belvoir / Co-Curious
2019
HELPMANN AWARD – BEST NEW AUSTRALIAN WORK
S.Shakthidharan & Eamon Flack – Belvoir / Co-Curious
2019
HELPMANN AWARD – BEST DIRECTION OF A PLAY
Eamon Flack & S. Shakthidharan for Belvoir / Co-Curious
2019
HELPMANN AWARD – BEST MALE ACTOR IN A PLAY
Prakash Belawadi – Belvoir / Co-Curious
2019
HELPMANN AWARD – BEST FEMALE ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A PLAY
Vaishnavi Suryaprakash – Belvoir / Co-Curious
2019
HELPMANN AWARD – BEST SCENIC DESIGN
Dale Ferguson – Belvoir / Co-Curious
2019
HELPMANN AWARD – BEST SOUND DESIGN
Stefan Gregory – Belvoir / Co-Curious
2019
SYDNEY THEATRE AWARD – BEST MAINSTAGE PRODUCTION
Belvoir / Co-Curious
2019
SYDNEY THEATRE AWARD – BEST NEW AUSTRALIAN WORK
S. Shakthidharan – Belvoir / Co-Curious
2019
SYDNEY THEATRE AWARD – BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
Stefan Gregory – Belvoir / Co-Curious
2020
VICTORIAN PREMIER’S LITERARY AWARD
S. Shakthidharan and Eamon Flack

Information
for schools

  • Book your performance

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    TERM TWO

    See this play for:
    LANGUAGE, IDENTITY AND CULTURE

    Recommended for Years 10 – 12

    Curriculum Links

    Drama
    Stage 5
    • Appreciating
      (Outcomes 5.3.1, 5.3.2)
    Stage 6
    Preliminary
    • Element of Production in Performance 
    • Theatrical Traditions and Performance Styles 
    HSC
    • Individual Project: Performance, Scriptwriting, Design 
    • Australian Drama and Theatre: Contemporary Australian Theatre Practice (related text) 
    English
    Stage 5
    • Viewing, Responding (Drama text)
    Stage 6
    Preliminary
    • Narratives that Shape our World (Advanced) (Module A) 
    HSC
    • Texts and Human Experiences (Common Module) (related text)
    • Language, Identity and Culture (Standard) (Module A) 
    • Literary Homelands (Extension 1) (Elective 1) 

    Schools Performances

    All schools performances are followed by a Q&A session with the cast.
    • Fri, 28 Jun 2024 11:30am
    • Thu, 4 Jul 2024 11:30am

    Tickets are only $25 per student with one complimentary teacher ticket for every ten students booked.

    Evening and Matinee Performances

    School groups can book any general public performance. Book our Thursday 1PM matinees for the schools performance price of $25 per ticket, or an evening performance from $45 per student.

    What to expect

    Belvoir creates for a wide audience and our productions may contain mature content. Accurate information about productions including running times and content is available once rehearsals have begun.

    Contact Us

    For more information about our education programs, please get in touch.

    Head of Education Jane May
    Education Manager Stevie Bryant
    +61 (2) 8396 6241

    Book your performance

    Complete this form to request tickets for Counting and Cracking.
    Want to book multiple productions? Head to our full Schools Booking request

      * Required fields

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