This weekend, Bengaluru audiences are in for a theatrical treat as Perch, the theatre collective with from Chennai, Pondicherry and Bengaluru, comes to Ranga Shankara with not one, but two evocative productions. Under the Mangosteen Tree and Kindhan Charithiram are distinct in language, tone and structure, yet bound by a shared cultural nostalgia of taking shape under a tree.
Under the Mangosteen Tree
Premiered in 2008 as a centenary tribute to legendary Malayalam writer Vaikom Muhammad Basheer, Under the Mangosteen Tree stages ten of his short stories. “He was a great storyteller, people would gather around him every evening under a mangosteen tree near his house. That’s where the title came from,” the director recalls. The tales are framed by the character of Basheer himself, who shifts between narrator, participant and whimsical observer, echoing the author’s own flair for self-referential storytelling. “It’s exciting to stage it this time because five of the original actors are back and we’ve paired them with five new performers. There’s this beautiful energy between old and new,” he adds.
The production, which hasn’t been staged recently, eschews linear storytelling, offering an absurd ride through Basheer’s world, where love letters are penned to prison walls. Yet, beneath the absurdity is a quiet meditation on love, war, loneliness and the human condition. The revival was rehearsed recently at Adishakti Theatre in Pondicherry before going on tour. “We built a mangosteen tree out of umbrellas and jute rope. The set is absurd and abstract, but strangely real when the stories come alive. Basheer loved his gramophone. We saw his record collection — Hindi, Tamil, jazz — and that became the soul of our music in the play.
Kindhan Charithiram
Kindhan Charithiram is more inward-facing — a tale born during the pandemic and deeply rooted in Tamil popular culture. Devised collectively by the actors in just 20 days beneath a banyan tree in Good Earth (near Auroville), the play is a raucous, musical fable centred on an orphaned boy’s journey through life. “Nobody wanted to do a heavy, serious play during COVID. We said, let’s make something fun — something people can laugh at and sing along with. It’s a musical entertainer with a profound truth: even if you’re born an orphan, you’re never truly alone. Life finds a way to send you people,” he shares.
Drawing tonal inspiration from Tamil cinema — specifically the socially-conscious melodramas of screen legend MG Ramachandran (MGR) — the play uses live music, slapstick comedy and rapid-fire role changes to tell a universally resonant story: that no one is truly alone. As the boy meets a cast of archetypes — a jailbird, a blind train singer, a tea master — each one seems to carry echoes of MGR’s moralistic charisma, turning the play into an inadvertent tribute to the cultural and cinematic icon. “This play was created entirely by the actors. I don’t even know what role I played — maybe just sat outside and helped stitch it together,” he concludes.
₹300 onwards. August 1 & 2, 7.30 pm. At Ranga Shankara, JP Nagar.