After a decade of development and a remarkable run of awards, Counting and Cracking is finally heading to Brisbane — and this is one theatrical event Queensland audiences will not want to miss.
There are productions that entertain, productions that challenge you, and then there are those rare pieces of theatre that stay with you long after you have left the theatre.
Counting and Cracking appears to belong firmly in that last category.
The internationally acclaimed Australian production will make its long-awaited Queensland debut at Brisbane Powerhouse from 27 May to 6 June 2027, following acclaimed seasons across Australia and overseas.
And with 14 major awards behind it — including seven Helpmann Awards — there is certainly plenty of history attached to this extraordinary production.
Written by S. Shakthidharan with Eamon Flack, and directed by Flack with Shakthidharan, Counting and Cracking is a sweeping story about family, migration, political upheaval, belonging and the complicated ties that bind generations together.
It is also a very personal story.
Set against the banks of Sydney’s Georges River, the story begins with Radha and her son Siddhartha as they scatter the ashes of Radha’s mother. It should be a moment of closure — a final connection to Sri Lanka, its history and its struggles.
But that sense of freedom doesn’t last.
A phone call from Colombo brings the past rushing back, opening the door to a journey that moves between love and political conflict, home and exile, parents and children, and the question of where we truly belong.
Spanning four generations and five decades, from 1956 to 2004, the production moves across continents and generations to tell the story of a Sri Lankan-Australian family trying to understand its past while finding its place in a changing world.
And this is no small-scale production.
With 16 performers, five languages and more than 50 characters, Counting and Cracking is a three-and-a-half-hour theatrical experience on an epic scale.
Yet at its heart are deeply human questions: What do we owe the generations who came before us? And what are we allowed to leave behind?
The Brisbane season is also a particularly significant moment for Brisbane Powerhouse CEO and Artistic Director Louise Bezzina, who first saw the production at the Adelaide Festival in 2019.
Bezzina recalls being completely overwhelmed by the experience.
“When I saw Counting and Cracking at the Adelaide Festival in 2019, I sat in that theatre in floods of tears, followed by moments of joy – sometimes within the same breath.”
For Bezzina, bringing the production to Brisbane represents more than simply adding another acclaimed work to the Powerhouse program.
“S. Shakthidharan and Eamon Flack have created something genuinely rare: a work of enormous theatrical scale that also reaches into the deepest, most private parts of what it means to be human.”
She believes Brisbane audiences deserve to see ambitious Australian theatre of this calibre — and that collaboration between major cultural organisations is an important part of making that happen.
The Brisbane season is being presented by Brisbane Powerhouse in association with Queensland Theatre Company, with the production originally created as a Belvoir St Theatre and Kurinji co-production.
For co-writer and director Eamon Flack, the Queensland debut also carries a very personal connection. Flack attended high school in Brisbane before studying at the University of Queensland, making the return of one of his most celebrated works to the city particularly meaningful.
The production has already created quite a legacy.
Its accolades include seven Helpmann Awards, including Best Play and Best New Australian Work, along with three Sydney Theatre Awards and seven Green Room Awards. It has also received the Victorian Premier’s Prize for Literature, the Nick Enright Prize for Playwriting and the 2026 Windham-Campbell Prize for Drama.
The production’s international journey has taken it from Sydney and Adelaide to the Birmingham Commonwealth Games and Edinburgh International Festival, with further international dates continuing to build its reputation.
Now Brisbane gets its opportunity.
For Queensland audiences, Counting and Cracking promises something much bigger than a night at the theatre. It is a story about where we come from, the families that shape us, the countries we leave behind and the memories that sometimes refuse to stay in the past.
After ten years of development, it seems fitting that this extraordinary Australian story is finally making its way to Queensland.
COUNTING AND CRACKING
Brisbane Powerhouse
27 May – 6 June 2027
Tickets go on sale Thursday, 8 October 2026.
Presented by Brisbane Powerhouse in association with Queensland Theatre Company.
Written by S. Shakthidharan with Eamon Flack
Directed by Eamon Flack with S. Shakthidharan
A Belvoir St Theatre and Kurinji co-production.
