“The Jungle and the Sea” Breathes Life Into The Untold Stories of the Sri Lankan Civil War

Catch a tuk-tuk, ride an elephant, slide in on a vadai-shaped floatie, whatever you do, just get to the Belvoir St Theatre in Sydney before 18 December 2022 to catch The Jungle and the Sea.

A mother, in a time of war. Members of her family go missing, one after the other – but she never loses hope. A rich, sweeping new play that combines two great pillars of literature – the Mahābhāratha and Antigone – with the untold histories of the Sri Lankan civil war to forge a new story about surviving loss, discovering love and building a path to justice.

Belvoir St Theatre

After an award-winning debut that rose to international acclaim, Counting and Cracking’s S. Shakthidharan and Eamon Flack are back in full force with The Jungle and the Sea. “A rich, sweeping new play that combines two great pillars of literature – the Mahābhāratha and Antigone – with the untold histories of the Sri Lankan civil war to forge a new story about surviving loss, discovering love and building a path to justice.”

I sat down (virtually) with Thinesh (தினேஸ்) Thillai—Audience Development Coordinator for The Jungle and the Sea—to give you the lowdown on this marriage of culture and theatre. Thinesh, based in Sydney, is a multi-hyphenate human—Atticus Finch by day; colourful creative by night.

What is The Jungle and the Sea, and what does it mean to you, especially as an Eelam Tamil?

The Jungle and the Sea explores the legacy of war, genocide and conflict and the lasting impression that it leaves on a family. As an Eelam Tamil person, I grew up watching the Tamil community around me seek acknowledgement and justice for the pain that decades of violence had caused, pain that often was not discussed with truth and nuance in western media.  To now have audiences that have little to no knowledge of what has gone on in Sri Lanka, bear witness to the pain that many in the Sri Lankan community have experienced, provides a catharsis that I could not have imagined. 

As an Eelam Tamil person, I grew up watching the Tamil community around me seek acknowledgement and justice for the pain that decades of violence had caused, pain that often was not discussed with truth and nuance in western media.  To now have audiences that have little to no knowledge of what has gone on in Sri Lanka, bear witness to the pain that many in the Sri Lankan community have experienced, provides a catharsis that I could have not imagined. 

Thinesh Thillai, The Jungle and the Sea

What does your role as Audience Development Coordinator involve? And how did you get involved in Australian theatre?

Australian theatre, and the arts sector more broadly, is often inaccessible to people of colour. Partly because the stories that are often being told on Australian stages do not reflect the diversity of Australian experiences, and partly because traditional theatre spaces can be classist and racist institutions that are unwelcoming. As Australian theatre evolves beyond the tired regurgitations of Shakespeare, and starts to tell other stories, the audiences should evolve as well. 

When Counting and Cracking ran a few years ago, the show sold out, but many people from the South Asian community were not able to access the show. 

In my role as an Audience Development Coordinator, I aim to build new audiences and engage existing audiences to ensure that works like The Jungle and the Sea reach audiences that are often excluded – audiences that the work is intended for. 

I honestly fell into this work through the Tamil community and the queer community – the Aunty Network haha! I was fortunate to have access to QTPOC arts and events here in Sydney, which allowed me to meet artists, creators and arts workers. Those incredible artists, creators and arts workers mentioned my name in rooms that I did not have access to and created opportunities for me.

After some mild stalking, I discovered that you’re a lawyer! What’s it like balancing your creative pursuits with a full-time career? Have you considered pursuing the arts full time?

I am a lawyer haha! Having a full-time career as a lawyer, whilst balancing my creative pursuits can be overwhelming at times – my google calendar is meticulously planned and organised weeks in advance – which is very annoying for my husband and friends. I am one of those people that says ‘Let’s do dinner on 22 June 2023’. But this is honestly the space that I feel most at home, because both sides of my brain are being engaged and enables my soul to feel fulfilled. I wouldn’t have it any other way! 

Why should every single South Asian in Australia go and support the show, like right now, like this very minute, like buy a ticket right now?

Every single South Asian in Australia should see the show because it provides our community with an opportunity to see an incredibly moving South Asian story in one of Australia’s most celebrated and beloved theatre companies. It is a theatre production involving a very talented team of casts and creatives, and brings together all the things we often don’t find in mainstage theatre: honouring and elevating a community, witnessing as an act of truth telling – whilst making a work that is rigorous and ambitious in its artistic and theatrical vision. 

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The Jungle and the Sea is a beautiful conclusion to Belvoir’s roster for 2022, and you’ll not want to miss this masterpiece. I’ll be bouncing in on a life-sized Gulab Jamun. How will you arrive at 25 Belvoir St, Surry Hills NSW 2010? (Seriously, send me a message, I don’t want to be the only one.)

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You can should buy tickets here. To ensure that the intended audience for The Jungle and the Sea is able to access it, Thinesh and the team have organised $50 tickets to performances between 12 and 24 November (code: JUNGLE50). The Jungle and the Sea will run until 18 December 2022 at Belvoir St Theatre in Surry Hills, Sydney.