I have made no secret of my belief that “Counting and Cracking” is one of the most thought-provoking and well-constructed plays in recent years, and many other critics clearly agree with the play winning multiple awards and enjoying tours all around the world. With such high praise to his name, playwright S. Shakthidharan now bears the weight of expectation every time he debuts a new play and again, he has turned to Belvoir St Theatre to premiere his latest work, The Wrong Gods, which tells the story of Nirmala (Nadie Kammallaweera) as she battles to maintain her land and her community during the Green Revolution in India. 

Unlike Counting and Cracking, which spanned three and a half hours, Shakthidharan has kept this play to a concise 90 minutes. While the play only directly addresses a very particular historical context, the themes it discusses have much broader application, especially in this country where the horrors of forceful dispossession remain so poignant. 

The play centres around Nirmala, who comes from a remote Indian village and has sacrificed everything to give her daughter, Isha (Radhika Mudaliyar) the best life possible but requests that she return home after her husband leaves. However, their lives are disrupted by Lakshmi (Vaishnavi Suryaprakash), who introduces Nirmala to new fertiliser and despite her suspicions, Nirmala agrees to let Lakshmi in and allows her to pay for Isha’s education. However, very quickly it becomes clear that Lakshmi’s real intention is to build dams to the detriment of communities and the most shocking moment of the play is when Isha returns, working for the company that has dispossessed her mother and her community. Armed with the support of Isha’s teacher, Devi (Manali Datar), Nirmala attempts to fight against the company, but, after realising the scale of dispossession around India, begins to lose hope. 

The subject matter is interesting and poignant, with the universality of the narrative meaning that not as much context is necessary like in Counting and Cracking, but some of the dialogue is hard to follow, meaning that the values that Shakthidharan seeks to interrogate are often somewhat obscured. Additionally, the tone and timbre of the dialogue means that it almost feels lecture-like, which lessens some of the emotional impact of the subject matter, as it loses some of the life that it needs to truly cut through the audience. 

Interestingly, the play is arguably at its strongest in its depiction of relationships and succeeds when the emotional impact of the turmoil caused by the dam project is explored to its fullest. The acting throughout is superb, particularly by Kammallaweera who is visceral in her performance as Nirmala and when the tensions between mother and daughter and betrayal and sacrifice are considered, the play is at its most wide-reaching. However, there could certainly be more of these moments in the production, as the emotional narratives feel secondary to the main plot, which lags a little in comparison. While the set is minimal, it is thoughtful and powerful when needed (especially in some of Nirmala’s climactic scenes) and the costumes are also used symbolically.  

In some ways, one could argue that Shakthidharan is a victim of his own success with this play. The Wrong Gods is generally well-constructed, deals with very interesting subject matter and taps into some fundamental human emotions, assisted by some superb acting. But the play lacks that same magic and immersion of similar work, which takes a production to the next level. With that said, there is no doubt that the backbone of the play is there, and the play is still one of the best of this Belvoir season and well worth watching as it deals with themes that are relevant and often ignored in Australian theatre and for that, it should be commended. 

Rating: ★★★★

The Wrong Gods plays at the Belvoir St Theatre until 1^st June. For more information, click here. 

Photo credit: Brett Boardman