The Wrong Gods brings gripping generational drama to the Fairfax Studio

Award-winning playwright S. Shakthidharan returns to Melbourne with The Wrong Gods as part of Melbourne Theatre Company’s 2025 season and the RISING festival.

Following the critical and popular success of Counting and Cracking, which recently won seven Green Room Awards including Outstanding New Australian Writing, Mr Shakthidharan’s latest play delivers another emotionally resonant, politically charged story.

This time, the playwright turns his gaze toward a remote valley in India, where ancient traditions meet the pressures of a rapidly globalising world.

Co-directed by Mr Shakthidharan’s and Hannah Goodwin (The Almighty Sometimes), The Wrong Gods is an intense four-hander that weaves lyrical poetry and striking imagery into a narrative about family, identity, and modern intrusion.

At its heart is Nirmala, a matriarch whose ancestral homeland has resisted centuries of foreign domination – until her daughter Isha dares to dream of life beyond the valley. When a stranger appears with offers of electricity, medicine and modernity, the emotional and moral cost of progress becomes devastatingly clear.

“The Wrong Gods is a fiercely resonant story of a mother and daughter, and the choices that shape generations,” MTC artistic director Anne-Louise Sarks said. “Shakthi [Shakthidharan] has such a gift for epic and emotional storytelling.”

The production explores themes of capitalism, environmental fragility, and the illusion of freedom. With a stripped-back cast and intimate staging, the story unfolds with potent simplicity, relying on powerful performances and an evocative production design by Keerthi Subramanyam.

Lighting by Amelia Lever-Davidson, original compositions from Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, and sound design by Steve Francis deepen the immersive experience.

Praised as “rich, evocative and unflinching” by TimeOut and “absorbing” by The Guardian, The Wrong Gods stands as a bold continuation of Mr Shakthidharan’s mission to centre underrepresented voices and complex cultural stories on the Australian stage.

The Wrong Gods runs until Saturday, July 12 at the Fairfax Studio, Arts Centre Melbourne. Tickets: mtc.com.au •