The description of Apah’s political actions brings nostalgia for the politics of another era, one where filibustering in Parliament, satyagrahas at the Galle Face Green, handcuffing yourself to chairs to prevent eviction by the Speaker of Parliament and other forms of non-violent, direct protest were the mainstay of the political imagination. The play has many such epic scenes. All that changed in the 1970s when violence made its entrance. The politicians of independence who saw politics as cricket—‘see you at the crease’, says Visandha as he leaves Apah’s company—are now dismissed by latter-day youth as patrons of privilege, lacking connection to the vast majority of the poor and the underprivileged who make up Sri Lanka’s population.
No play featuring Sri Lankan Tamils can be authentic if it does not have an honest conversation about Tamil militancy and extremism. Radha’s husband Thirru’s sister, Swathi, having seen one of her friends killed in a crackdown, runs off and joins the female wing of the Tamil Tigers. As we watch counterterrorism strategies unfold throughout the world we know that if a family member is found to belong to an extremist group all members are under a cloud. Thirru, Radha’s husband, who has no truck with Tamil militancy, is nevertheless arrested and disappears. Radha is told he was killed in the riots. Having heard the news, she leaves Sri Lanka with her unborn baby, a few items of clothing and her grandfather’s ashes. Thirru reappears at the end of the play, fleeing his captors. Desperate to find asylum in Australia and reunite with his family, he connects with Radha and her son. Radha remembers this recent history all too well. When fundraisers for the Tigers appear and mention her grandfather she says: ‘Do not mention him in the same breath as the Tigers. Even the Gods will not forgive you for what you are doing.’
The portrayal of Sinhalese characters in this play is with affection. Like the Tamils they live with the undercurrent of violence, a violence of great complexity. Nihinsa, the domestic aid, is a central character of the story. Her drama on the sidelines of the play gives us a sense of how unreal the life of the elites were. Her son attacks the Kataragama police station as a member of the JVP, a Sinhalese Marxist rebel group. The desperation of the life of poor Sinhalese is represented by Nihinsa and enacted through this side drama. Her husband is given a 12-year prison sentence. To protect her family, Nihinsa requests her son, Maithri, join the army. Swathi, Radha’s sister-in-law, and Maithri are seen attacking each other in a mimed battle scene.
Despite all the violence, what finally emerges between the main Sinhalese and Tamil characters in the play, is a deeper understanding and common struggles though waged in a parallel universe. The Sinhalese hero in the play is Hasa, whose bravery mirrors that of one of Sri Lanka’s leading journalists. In love with Radha but turned best friend, he facilitates both Radha’s and Thirru’s departure from Sri Lanka. As a fearless journalist, he is finally killed, and Radha and her family deeply mourn his passing. In fact as the backdrop of Sri Lanka’s modern history unfolds in this play, we see many of these characters as heroes holding steadfast to certain values as they experience the bloody and nasty vicissitudes of life.
The portrayal of the women in Counting and Cracking is also inspiring. Radha, Aacha, Swathi, Nihinsa are all women with agency who play a decisive part in the lives of the people around them. None of them are part of the décor. Grandmother Aacha is no subservient Sita but one who commands her politician husband in many important decisions that affect private life. Radha, the mathematician, gives up her chance to enter Cambridge, defies her grandparents and marries a Tamil of a different caste. Swathi joins the Tigers. Though a cog in the Tiger wheel she is empowered, although her acts of willfulness will destroy her brother and her family. Nihinsa, having to cope with the frailty and folly of her family while working full-time in someone else’s home, is the quiet and strong force that negotiates her family’s future by urging her son to join the army. These women are strong and decisive. Lily, Siddhartha’s love interest, though, is the way of the future; an Aboriginal woman, at peace with herself, caring and nurturing, willing to cross society’s barriers in pursuit of her dreams.
Counting and Cracking also gives us a glimpse into that subterranean world where migrants, undocumented workers, people smugglers, asylum seekers and trafficked victims traverse the world of desperation and pain. Some are stateless, belonging to no-one, having to survive on wit and cunning. They live with false passports and visas and are kept in containers and dark rooms for days on end by human smugglers. Thirru decides to flee Sri Lanka and is taken to Mannar, Rameshwaram, Malaysia, Indonesia and then finally to Australia. We get a glimpse of this subterranean world through his transit.
Political values and frameworks hover over the play, though humanity trumps their certainty. The play has full-hearted support for the values of democracy but a scepticism about its practices. ‘Democracy means the counting of heads within limits and the cracking of heads beyond those limits,’ says Apah in describing the politics of his time. This play is about going ‘beyond those limits’ when systems of democracy break down and are overwhelmed by violence. Violence brings another discourse. The focus shifts from democracy to human rights. The young Radha clutches and reads reports by Amnesty International. There is a subtle understanding in the play that these political values are not shared values; they are in fact very precious and need to be protected and fought for.
Art in Sri Lanka cannot get away from these debates and discussions. The great artists of contemporary Sri Lanka, Jagath Weerasinghe, Sanathanan and Thenuwara have directly faced the political and moral dilemmas arising from years of war and conflict. Shakthidharan is also in this category. Silence is first broken through art. It captures the sentiments and the nuances. It gives first expression to the rainbow of emotions. Through the work of these artists a country expresses its pain and suffering.
But there is also lightness and hope. That is why Counting and Cracking is a superlative play. The give, take and repartee between the characters is much of the play and the tension does not lift for a minute. The play is also full of mime, music, dance and playfulness that allow one to experience the plotline within a rich context. One is totally engrossed. So it is not only a play about epic events but also a display of literary craftsmanship, both subtle and extraordinary, depending on the event and the scene.
One cannot get away from the fact that this play is mainly about passion, the passion the characters of all ethnicities have for Sri Lanka. It has been a turbulent passion that has ripped the country apart as everyone tries to lay claim to it. Twenty-one years after she left Sri Lanka, 20 years after her silence, Radha mentions to Siddhartha that she wants to go back to Sri Lanka and take the Tupperware box full of her grandfather’s ashes to scatter them in her waters. ‘I loved Sri Lanka. I still do. Not just the people, but the land itself. I miss it. Every day.’
In such a context this play is essentially about the hunger for reconciliation, a yearning for forgiveness, remorse and closure—a closure that is strongly resisted by many vested interests. Perhaps the Sinhalese jailor who tortures Thirru in the play because his parents were killed in a Tiger bomb blast reflects our contradictions. He will not forgive. The mere presence of Thirru infuriates him. But he loves Muralitharan, Sri Lanka’s iconic Tamil cricketer. He cheers him on and feels at one with him. The jailor reminds Sri Lankans that we live with these contradictions on a daily basis. While we exclude the other, she also lives inside.
Finally the play, despite its intense Sri Lankan focus, will remain with every single member of the audience. Universality is the bottom line of Counting and Cracking, building on a common humanity. The coming together of Siddhartha and Lily, the Aboriginal reality with Sri Lanka’s forgotten child, both dreaming of the place where the waters inevitably mix, reminds us of our interconnectedness. But it is interconnectedness with a moral core. It is a cast of mostly heroes clutching important values. They are thrown about in different directions, constantly being tested. Yet they retain their common humanity. They are looking fo
r transcendence. As Hasa writes, ‘There is a calling that is above high office, fame, money or security. It is the call of the conscience.’
Sri Lanka
July 2020
Radhika Coomaraswamy was a former Under Secretary General of the United Nations and Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict.
Counting and Cracking was first co-produced by Belvoir Street Theatre and Co-Curious Ltd, and developed with the support of CuriousWorks, at Sydney Town Hall on 11 January 2019, with the following cast:
Radha Nadie Kammallaweera
Siddhartha Shiv Palekar
Apah Prakash Belawadi
Aacha / Dhamayanthi /
Old Nihinsa Sukania Venugopal
Thirru Antonythasan Jesuthasan
Young Radha Vaishnavi Suryaprakash
Young Thirru Jay Emmanuel
Nihinsa Nipuni Sharada
Hasanga Nicholas Brown
Vinsanda Monroe Reimers
Lily Rarriwuy Hick
Bala / Maithri Rajan Velu
Sunil Ahilan Karunaharan
Priest Gandhi MacIntyre
Ismet Hazem Shammas
Swathi Monica Kumar
Band Kranthi Kiran Mudigonda
Janakan Raj
Venkhatesh Sritharan
Director, Eamon Flack
Associate Director, S. Shakthidharan
Cultural and Costume Advisor, Anandavalli
Set and Costume Designer, Dale Ferguson
Lighting Designer, Damien Cooper
Sound Designer and Composer, Stefan Gregory
Associate Sound Designer, Jessica Dunn
Movement and Fight Director, Nigel Poulton
Accent Coach, Linda Nicholls-Gidley
Assistant Director, Carissa Licciardello
Associate Artist, Suzanne Pereira
Stage Manager, Luke McGettigan
Deputy Stage Manager, Jennifer Parsonage
Assistant Stage Manager, Julia Orlando
Translations
Tamil, Kulasegaram Sanchayan
Sinhala, Nadya Perera and Nadie Kammallaweera
With the support of Ahilan Karunaharan and Nipuni Sharada
Counting and Cracking was developed with the support of CuriousWorks and Belvoir St Theatre. The author would also like to acknowledge the support of Carriageworks, Playwriting Australia, the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts and the NSW Government through Create NSW.
MAIN CHARACTERS
Siddhartha, an arts and media studies student
Radha, Siddhartha’s mother (amma), a mathematician
Dhamayanthi, Siddhartha’s grandmother (ammamma)
Apah, Siddhartha’s great-grandfather, a politician
Aacha, Siddhartha’s great-grandmother
Lily, Siddhartha’s girlfriend, a law student
Thirru, Siddhartha’s father, an engineer
Bala, Thirru’s father, a fruit seller from Jaffna
Swathi, Thirru’s sister
Nihinsa, Apah and Aacha’s housekeeper
Maithri, Nihinsa’s son
Vinsanda, personal friend, political enemy of Apah
Hasanga, Vinsanda’s son, a journalist
COMPLETE CHARACTER LIST
All characters speak English unless otherwise indicated.
ACT ONE
Priest, 90s (Tamil-speaking Sri Lankan)
Siddhartha, 20
Radha, 48 (Tamil- and Singhalese-speaking Sri Lankan)
Lily, early 20s (Yolngu Matha-speaking Australian)
Ismet (Arabic-speaking Turkish Australian)
Fundraiser (Tamil-speaking Sri Lankan)
Jailor (Singhalese-speaking Sri Lankan, broken English)
Thirru, 48 (Tamil- and Singhalese-speaking Sri Lankan)
Cricket Commentator (Australian)
Cricket Commentator (Sri Lankan)
Ismet’s Son
Sunil, 60s (Tamil-speaking Indian)
OLD Nihinsa, 70s (Singhalese-speaking Sri Lankan, broken English)
Hasa, 50s (Singhalese-speaking Sri Lankan)
Policeman 1 (Singhalese-speaking Sri Lankan, broken English)
teenage Radha
teenage Thirru
Nihinsa, 20s
Apah, 80s (Tamil- and Singhalese-speaking Sri Lankan)
ACT TWO
Nihinsa, 20s
Apah, 50s
Priest, 50s
Dhamayanthi, 20s (Tamil- and Singhalese-speaking Sri Lankan)
Aacha, 50s (Tamil- and Singhalese-speaking Sri Lankan)
Baby Radha
Bala, 20s (Tamil-speaking Sri Lankan, broken English)
Vinsanda, 50s (Singhalese-speaking Sri Lankan)
Siddhartha, 20
Radha, 48
Hasa, 50s
Thirru, 48
Sunil, 60s
Nihinsa, 40s
Aacha, 70s
Male Servant (Singhalese-speaking Sri Lankan, no English)
Hopper Man (Tamil-speaking Sri Lankan, no English)
Young Woman (Tamil- and Singhalese-speaking Sri Lankan)
young Hasa, 20s
young Thirru, 22
Swathi, teenager (Tamil-speaking Sri Lankan, broken English)
Sunil, 30s
Bride (Singhalese-speaking Sri Lankan)
Arif (Tamil-speaking Sri Lankan)
young Radha, 22
Mister Levi
Maithri, 20s (Singhalese-speaking Sri Lankan, no English)
Apah, 70s
Vinsanda, 70s
Policeman 2 (Singhalese-speaking Sri Lankan, no English)
Wedding Guests
Bystander 1 (Tamil-speaking Sri Lankan, broken English)
Bystander 2 (Singhalese-speaking Sri Lankan)
Bystander 3 (Tamil- and Singhalese-speaking Sri Lankan)
Lily, early 20s
Tamil Tiger Officer
people Smuggler (Indonesian)
Asylum Seekers
ACT THREE
Apah, 80s
Lily, 20s
Radha, 48
Siddhartha, 20
Ismet
Nihinsa, 50s
Hasa, 30s
Radha, 27
Priest, 70s
Thirru, 27
Fruit Seller (Tamil-speaking Sri Lankan, no English)
Pettah Shop Owner (Tamil-speaking Sri Lankan)
Operator (Singhalese-speaking Sri Lankan)
Pettah Police Commander
Welawatte Shop Owner (Tamil-speaking Sri Lankan, broken English)
Inspector General of Police
Mrs. Kumaraswamy
Receptionist to the President
President
Janini
Maya
Arif
Kunthavi
Hooligans
Vinsanda, 80s
Messenger (Singhalese-speaking Sri Lankan, broken English)
Dhamayanthi, 50s
Funeral Procession
Sunil, 40s
Furniture Movers
Hasa, 50s
Asylum Seekers
Ensemble to play Commentators, Wedding Guests, Asylum Seekers, Hooligans, Funeral Procession, Furniture Movers
SETTING
The play takes place between 1956 and 2004.
Act One
The banks of the Georges River, Haigh Park, Liverpool; Sully Street, Coogee; Radha’s apartment, Pendle Hill; Welikada Prison, Colombo; Siddhartha’s and Ismet’s neighbouring houses, Coogee; the front porch of Sunil’s home, Milagiriya Avenue, Colombo.
Act Two
The front porch of the family home, Milagiriya Avenue, Colombo; Radha’s apartment, Pendle Hill; the front porch of Sunil’s home, Milagiriya Avenue, Colombo; a remote beach near Banda Aceh, Indonesia; the Indian Ocean.
Act Three
The front porch of the family home, Milagiriya Avenue, Colombo; Siddhartha’s front yard, Coogee; Radha’s apartment, Pendle Hill; various stores, offices and streets around Colombo; a
train to Villawood; Villawood Detention Centre.
ACT ONE
SCENE ONE
Haigh Park, Western Sydney. 2004. The banks of the Georges River.
A Hindu priest sits on the ground. He chants in Sanskrit.
Siddhartha sits beside him. He holds a small ornate urn. He wears jeans but is bare-chested. His shirt and shoes are on the ground nearby.
Radha stands behind siddhartha, watching him closely. She is dressed in a saree and carries a tote bag.
The priest chants, swiftly and precisely. Siddhartha repeats each line of the chant. He struggles with the unfamiliar words, and, in his Australian accent, with their pronunciation. Occasionally the priest repeats a phrase and siddhartha attempts it again. As he chants the priest guides siddhartha through the actions and gestures of the ceremony: he ties long grass around his finger, pours rice from a plate into a bowl, blesses a small fire.
The priest stops chanting and stands. Siddhartha stands too: still holding the urn.
PRIEST: குடும்பத்தில இருந்து யாராவது ஒரு ஆம்பிள்ள அவரோட கூடப் போக வேணும். (A male from the family should go in with him.)
RADHA: ஒருத்தரும் மிச்சமில்ல. (There is no-one left.)
Beat.
PRIEST: [looking at the urn] உங்கள்ண்ட அம்மாவுக்குத் தெரிஞ்சவே யாராவது. (Someone who knew your mother.)
RADHA: ஐயர் நீங்கள் [போவீங்களா]? (Ayar. Would you?)
PRIEST: நாளைக்கு யாரையாவது [பிடிச்சுக்] கொண்டு வாங்கோ. மிச்சத்தை அதுக்குப் பிறகு செய்வம். (Find someone and bring them tomorrow. We’ll finish the rites then.)
RADHA: எங்கட அம்மாவ உங்களுக்குத் தெரியும் … தெரிஞ்சவ ஒருத்தரும் இங்க இல்ல. (There is no-one. Please. You knew my mother.)
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