Testimony, Myth, and Survival: Rajan Velu on THE JUNGLE AND THE SEA

The Jungle and the Sea traces one family’s journey through Sri Lanka’s decades-long civil war, beginning with an act that shatters them apart — and a mother’s response to it: Gowrie blindfolds herself, refusing to see the world again until her loved ones are reunited.

From there, the play widens into something larger, tracing what it takes to hold onto dignity, safety and each other through years of conflict. Drawing on real-life testimonies from the war and threading in elements of the Mahābhāratha and the Greek myth of Antigone, it’s a story less interested in the mechanics of war than in what survives it — love, connection, pride — even when almost everything else is lost.

The production comes from the team behind Counting and Cracking — writer S. Shakthidharan and director Eamon Flack — and features live Carnatic music alongside a cast including Bharathanatyam dancer Anandavalli and several returning Counting and Cracking collaborators. Among them is Rajan Velu.

Rajan is a graduate of the Actors Centre in Sydney. His theatre credits include Counting and Cracking, The Jungle and the Sea, Life of Galileo (Belvoir), Emerald City (Ensemble Theatre), Norm and Ahmed (Australia Theatre Live), Friends in Transient Places (Fresh Produce’d, Los Angeles), Lost: The Musical (Chinless Productions, Los Angeles), The Changeling, Henry V (Independent Shakespeare Company, Los Angeles), The Last Highway (Urban Theatre Projects, Sydney Festival), Fearless N (Theatre Kantanka) and The Drum (Sydney Opera House).

His TV credits include The Disposables (Photo Play), Savage River (ABC TV), Born To Spy (Aquarius Films), Doctor Doctor (Nine Network), RFDS (Network 7), Diary of an Uber Driver (Revolver Films), Reef Break (ABC Studios International), Criminal Minds: Beyond Borders (CBS), Scandal (ABC), Brooklyn Nine-Nine (CBS), Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (CW) and Hollywood Heights (Nickelodeon). Rajan’s film credits include This Little Love of Mine, Bug, Eat Spirit Eat, Honeyglue, Superman Returns and the award-winning short You Can’t Curry Love.

This isn’t your first time working with S. Shakthidharan and Eamon Flack — what’s changed in how the company builds these epics together?

Rajan: This is actually the fifth time I’ve had the privilege of working with S. Shakthidharan and Eamon Flack, following the various tours of Counting and Cracking over the years and The Jungle and the Sea in 2022. One of the things I’ve really noticed is how collaborative the process has become in bringing these epic stories to life. There’s a genuine openness in the rehearsal room. We spend a lot of time discussing character arcs, relationships and the journey of the story, and the script continues to evolve as we explore it together. Lines of dialogue are refined, moments are discovered, and everyone has the opportunity to contribute to making the story as truthful as possible. I love working this way because, by the end of rehearsals, the story feels like it belongs to all of us. Another hallmark of Shakthi and Eamon’s work is their trust in the power of storytelling itself. Rather than relying on elaborate sets or props, they allow the words, performances and the audience’s imagination to do the heavy lifting. I think there’s something incredibly powerful—and quite beautiful—about that approach.

With a cast of mostly Sri Lankan-heritage performers and live Carnatic music on stage, how does the soundscape affect your performance night to night?

Rajan: The soundscape helps us drop more deeply into the world of the play each night. Carnatic music and Tamil identity are so closely connected, and that tradition of using music to tell stories goes back centuries. For many of us in the cast, there’s also a real familiarity and nostalgia in hearing that music—we grew up with it. It instantly sets the time, place and emotional tone, which helps us connect more instinctively to the story and to each other on stage.

You’ve worked across Australian and American stage and screen.  Does an epic of this scale change your approach compared to screen work?

Rajan: The epic scale of the production doesn’t change my approach as much as the medium of theatre itself compared to screen. Theatre and screen are very different mediums. At their core, they’re both about telling a story truthfully and creating a genuine connection, but the approach is completely different from my perspective. With screen acting, you draw the audience into your performance — you invite them into intimate moments through the lens of the camera, where even the smallest expression can carry meaning. On stage, the relationship is more expansive — you share the performance with the audience and take it out to them. That means physicality is often more heightened, vocal projection becomes an important tool, and the storytelling has to reach the entire space. One of the biggest differences is the presence of live feedback. In screen work, there’s no immediate audience response — you perform and trust that it will connect later in the edit. In theatre the audience becomes part of the experience- their energy changes every night, which means no two performances are ever exactly the same.

Knowing the play is described as “honouring those who survived the war and upheld dignity amid devastation”, what does that responsibility feel like as a performer?

Rajan: It’s an enormous responsibility. Every performance carries with it the responsibility of honouring the people whose lives were forever changed by the conflict in Sri Lanka. We owe it to them to tell this story with honesty, care and humanity. No matter how tired we are, when the curtain goes up, we give every part of ourselves to the performance because this story means so much to us. It’s not just about recounting history—it’s about giving voice to those who endured unimaginable hardship and reminding audiences of the resilience and dignity that can exist even in the darkest of times.

Touring to Sydney, Melbourne, and Canberra, do you think the story will land differently for different audiences, particularly diaspora communities versus general audiences?

Rajan: In a general sense, I’ve always found that stories land differently in different cities. Every audience brings its own energy, shaped by its theatre-going culture and its familiarity with stories like this. As performers, you can feel those subtle differences from night to night. More specifically, I think the play resonates very deeply with diaspora communities because, for many of them, aspects of the story reflect lived experiences or family histories. It naturally hits closer to home. That said, I don’t think the story belongs only to the Sri Lankan or South Asian community. At its heart, it’s a human story about family, love, loss, survival and hope. Those themes are universal, and audiences don’t need to share the same cultural background to be moved by them. A human story is a human story, and that’s what great theatre does—it helps us recognise ourselves in the lives of others.

What do you hope audiences carry out of the theatre after this one?

Rajan: I hope the play encourages audiences to reflect more broadly. While it’s rooted in the Sri Lankan experience, its themes are universal. It holds up a mirror and asks us to consider whether we’re willing to accept these kinds of conflicts and humanitarian tragedies continuing to happen around the world, or whether we can learn from the past and choose a different path. For diaspora audiences I hope the play is Cathartic and help open conversations between families and provide a space for healing to happen.

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The Jungle and the Sea is playing now at Belvoir St Theatre, Sydney, before touring to Southbank Theatre, Melbourne.

For tickets and more information, visit the Belvoir and MTC websites.

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Header photo by Brett Boardman