Like Father: Three powerful plays explore fatherhood ahead of Father’s Day

With Father’s Day around the corner, Like Father arrives as a timely reminder of the many ways we understand, question and remember our fathers. Presented by Mango Season Stories, this theatrical production brings together three distinct plays that explore fatherhood at different stages of life, creating an emotional and relatable experience for audiences.

Like Father: A theatrical celebration of fatherhood through three moving stories

Fatherhood is rarely spoken about in all its complexity. We often see fathers as protectors, providers or authority figures, but rarely as people figuring things out as they go. While each story stands on its own, they are connected by a shared desire to understand fathers—and the people they become over time.

For curator, writer, and director Bhavya Balantrapu, the idea came together organically. “It’s a warm, feel-good evening tracing the lifespan of fatherhood,” she says. Her play, In Other Words, follows a new father trying to make sense of parenthood while reflecting on his own childhood. Through memories of growing up, he grapples with a simple but universal question: how do you keep your child safe when you’re still figuring things out yourself?

“It’s about the fears of a new father, but it’s also a sweet and hopeful story,” Bhavya explains.

The second piece, Small Hand, Big Hand by Rajiv Rajaram, explores a stage of life many people quietly find themselves in caring for both their children and their ageing parents at the same time. Rajiv describes it as the experience of the ‘sandwich generation’.

“We are the slice that holds two breads together. Everybody feels it, but nobody really articulates it.” Drawn from personal experiences of raising a daughter while caring for his mother, the play reflects on the emotional balancing act of being both a son and a father. “There’s this idea that adults have everything figured out. Then you become a parent and realise nobody really does. We’re all figuring it out as we go.”

The play Enga Pa Porom Saapda by Shravan Ramakrishnan looks at fatherhood through memory, exploring how fathers continue to live on through the stories, lessons and quiet moments they leave behind. Drawing from deeply personal experiences, the play reflects on loss, reconciliation and the way memory resurfaces unexpectedly. As Shravan says, “So many small moments in my day remind me of my father. Memory finds its way back through the smallest things.” It is a poignant reminder that even in absence, a parent’s presence often lingers in the everyday.

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