The Jungle and the Sea

Title: The Jungle and the Sea

Authors: S. Shakthidharan & Eamon Flack

Publishers: Belvoir St Theatre & Currency Press

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.

Photography by Sarah Walker

Judges’ report

Ambitious in its scope yet deceptively simple narratively, The Jungle and the Sea is a richly detailed text exploring the complexities of ethnic conflict through distinctly drawn characters, compelling relationships, and empathetic brushstrokes across time. Blending personal testimonies with classic sources, including the Mahābhāratha and Antigone, Shakthidharan and Flack’s script tells an intimate and deeply personal story, at every turn emphasising our shared humanity and powerfully conveying the vulnerability and agency of people navigating the chaos and aftermath of war. A rigorously economical text about surviving loss, discovering love, and building a path to justice, The Jungle and the Sea is accomplished and epic, monumental and moving; a rich and essential work of contemporary theatre.