When writer S Shakthidharan, known as Shakthi, began researching his family’s roots in Sri Lanka he discovered not just a family history but the history of a nation torn apart and a diaspora escaping violence to new countries.

Having been brought up in Australia, Shakthi explored the dual heritage of people who left Sri Lanka and settled elsewhere - and in doing so he found the seeds for his drama Counting and Cracking.

And he also discovered an epic tale which weaves together the hopes, dreams and fates of four generations and spans more than 50 years.

The play begins in 2004 in Sydney where son Siddhartha (Shiv Palekar), who prefers to be known as Sid, admits he knows next to nothing of his past. His father died before he was born and his mother escaped to Australia, he has never been to Sri Lanka and, up to now, has had little interest in his roots. But a telephone call from his mother’s home country shatters the life they have built in Sydney and the past collides with the present.

In a dramatic tour de force, Shakthi, who also directs the production, and fellow director and associate writer Eamon Flack sweep through Sri Lanka’s history by focussing largely on one family, using their experiences as a telescope through which to witness a country falling apart.

At its head is Apah, a member of the Government and a community leader. Headstrong and determined, he believes all people are equal and only through working together can they develop their country which has recently become independent from the UK. Prakash Belawadi gives us a stubborn but benevolent Apah - here is a man who believes in his people and his country, but belief is not sufficient when others in power choose division.

It is his granddaughter Radha who in the 2004 element of the story is Sid’s mother in Sydney. As the story travels back and forth across time, this role is shared between Vaishanvi Suryaprakash playing the younger woman and Nadie Kammallaweera as the older Radha. While there is a touch of her grandfather’s stubbornness in the younger woman, it is the older Radha who takes our hearts as an overly fussy mother and a woman prepared to fight her corner with whoever crosses her path.

The cast of 19 swap and change roles across the histories creating a host of subtly drawn characters from a street seller determined his son will go to school and succeed, to a young woman prepared to fight for her country and a maid whose son must join the army in order for him to survive. These tiny vignettes create a colourful kaleidoscope of the Sri Lankan experience.

Without a doubt there is some heavy subject matter in this production with questions of identity, nationhood, personal responsibility and family ties all coming under the microscope but its writers have also ensured plenty of light-hearted touches and some great dramatic moments such as a humorous exchange between the elder Radha and a man sent to install her air conditioning and the younger Radha’s grandmother’s attempts to matchmake.

But what stays with the audience is the power of the story - how individual lives are thrown off balance by events outside of their control, by the fear of the other and by how neighbours can turn on each other when we focus on differences rather than our similarities.

It is an ambitious project and the show runs to three and a half hours with two intervals and yet the story never drags and the time passes far too quickly as we are pulled in to follow these characters at critical points in their lives.

With Sri Lanka back in the news due to recent unrest and the ongoing debate about how richer countries treat refugees, the show is a timely reminder of how the past influences the present and can continue to influence the future.

Produced by Sydney-based Belvoir Theatre Company and performed at The Rep as part of the Birmingham 2022 Festival, Counting and Cracking has won a host of awards and is performed in English, Tamil and Sinhalese with live translation into English.

Four stars

Reviewed by Diane Parkes

Counting and Cracking continues to show at Birmingham Rep until Saturday August 27