Name: The Jungle & The Sea
Start: 2026-08-06T09:00:00+10:00
End: 2026-08-06T11:50:00+10:00
Location: Canberra Theatre Centre, Civic Square/London Cct, Canberra, ACT, Australia, Australian Capital Territory 2601

Grand in scope and meticulous in detail, The Jungle & The Sea is a bold epic of human resilience that will sweep you out of your seat and into a world shaped by courage, loss and hope. This is theatre that invites you to witness lives lived under extraordinary pressure, and to leave feeling changed by their strength.
Don’t miss this monumental live experience, where intimate human stories unfold on an epic scale, and where the emotional power of live performance reminds us why stories matter.
From the multi-award-winning team behind Counting and Cracking comes The Jungle & The Sea.
Gowrie is a mother in a time of war. As members of her family go missing, one after the other, she refuses to surrender to despair. Instead, she makes a radical vow of defiance: she blindfolds herself, choosing not to see the world again until her loved ones are reunited. This act sets the stage for one family’s epic journey to retain their dignity and safety, as they endure Sri Lanka’s decades-long civil war and fight to hold onto love, identity and hope.
A rich, sweeping new play, The Jungle & The Sea combines two great pillars of literature – the Mahābhāratha and Antigone – with the untold histories of the Sri Lankan civil war. The result is a powerful new story about surviving loss, discovering love in the harshest of circumstances, and building a path towards justice when none seems possible.
Featuring live Carnatic music, a sweeping narrative shaped by real lives, and a large ensemble cast including Bharathanatyam dancer Anandavalli alongside Prakash Belawadi, Nadie Kammallaweera, Shiv Palekar, Dushan Philips and Rajan Velu, this evocative theatrical monument offers a rare sense of connection and collective experience. You will leave deeply moved, carrying with you a renewed appreciation for the endurance of the human spirit.
★★★★ “Dares to dream on an epic scale” – Sydney Morning Herald
★★★★ “…another achievement of sustained feeling and empathy, of insight into chaos, power and the human instinct for joy and survival” – The Guardian