Counting & Cracking (Belvoir) ★★★★★

Written by S.Shakthidharan with Eamon Flack. Belvoir. Carriageworks. 28 Jun – 21 Jul, 2024.

If you’ve been on the edge deciding whether to see Counting & Cracking, what are you waiting for? The show has had a steady stream of five star reviews, multiple returning runs and received international acclaim. True, the 3hr 30min running time is daunting on a cold “school night” but trust me when I tell you, Counting & Cracking is as good as they say. It may be the best Australian play of the last decade.

Telling the story of one Sri Lankan woman, Radha (played by the powerhouse duo of Nadie Kammallaweera as the adult Radha, and Radhika Mudaliyar as the younger), who flees sectarian violence and comes to Australia on her own to set up a new life for herself and her unborn son. It’s about family, how politics can elevate and tear us apart, and how our connection to land can be a powerful force. 

I kept hearing about how good this show was but kept missing it. I was overseas when it premiered in 2019, I was back in Sydney when it was touring the world, so when it returned this year it was high on my “let’s see for myself” list. So I grabbed one of my trusty theatre-friends and booked.

Firstly, the buzz at Carriageworks was infectious. A strong South East Asian audience was in attendance (along with an inordinate number of actors I recognised from recent STC and Belvoir shows). The coldness of the cavernous concrete expanse was washed away by Dale Ferguson’s warm, towering set that created a wooden amphitheatre inside the towering space. It makes for great people watching, and as the audience filed in and the ambient chatter rose, the energy in the space built.

For all its heavy topics, Counting & Cracking is very much alive. It fizzes with exuberance, aided by Eamon Flack’s direction which keeps the long set moving with a sea of people. The minimal props appear and disappear in a flurry of fabric and bustle. Like watching a group of children at play, the noise of the ensemble moving around and chattering is inviting and warm. For a long play, it never feels static or languid. 

S. Shakthidharan’s script balances the humour with the human drama. We laugh at Radha’s irascible nature as a mother, but cry at the pain she’s suffered. We beam with her intelligence and verve, and cheer at her successes. Both Kammallaweera and Mudaliyar excel here. They have created a coherent, multifaceted and rich character that is easy to love.

Through the eyes of Radha’s twenty-something son, Siddhartha (Shiv Palekar) we see the experience of the young and restless second generation. In love with freedom of Coogee but missing the spices and warmth of his Sri Lankan-infused home in Pendle Hill. His budding romance with Lily (Abbie-lee Lewis), a Yolngu woman in Sydney feeling the same disconnect, adds a layer of optimism and sweetness to the story.

Flack has filled the show with beautiful directorial moments. From the ensemble holding up props and embodying their essence. To the fourth-wall breaking moments where the translators get pulled into the story. The theatrical storytelling makes the time fly by.

My abiding memory of the show isn’t of any of the pain, politics or despair the story weaves its way through – it’s of dancing, and joy, and love. It’s of warmth and colourful clothes in constant motion. It’s of life. 

Not that Counting & Cracking needs another five star review this late in its lifespan – but I’m happy to give it one for posterity.