Counting and Cracking, S. Shakthidharan's four-generation Sri Lankan-Australian epic, plays London for the first time next summer, at Soho Theatre Walthamstow from 15 June to 10 July 2027 as part of LIFT.
Counting and Cracking is finally coming to London. The Belvoir St Theatre and Kurinji co-production runs at Soho Theatre Walthamstow from 15 June to 10 July 2027. House of Oz presents it in association with Soho Theatre, as part of LIFT, the London International Festival of Theatre. Priority booking opens on 12 November, with general sale from 16 November.
The play is written by S. Shakthidharan and directed by Eamon Flack. It starts on a riverbank in Sydney. Radha and her son Siddhartha have come to scatter the ashes of Radha's mother. Then a phone call from Colombo arrives, and the story opens out across four generations of one family, moving between Sri Lanka and Australia from 1956 to 2004.
This is a large-scale piece. A company of 19 performers from six countries plays it in English, Tamil and Sinhalese, with live translation into English throughout.
The production first reached the UK in 2022, at the Edinburgh International Festival and Birmingham Rep, and has since played New York. Along the way it has picked up 14 major awards, among them the Helpmann Awards for Best Production and Best Direction. Walthamstow is its first London engagement.
The venue is Soho Theatre's second home, the restored former Granada cinema on Hoe Street in E17, which opened in May 2025.
For more information, visit the official website.
