Butter and Mashed Banana has completed 33 shows, both at theatre festivals as well as public shows. It is the only play from Bangalore in recent times that has been invited to the prestigous Prithvi Theatre Festival, the Kala Ghoda Festival and the Open Space Festival – Himmat. Butter and Mashed Banana has performed across the country.

Butter and Mashed Banana  is presented by Harami Theatre. Written in 2005 and performed from the following year, Butter and Mashed Banana has won both critical and mass acclaim over the last five years.

Synopsis

Butter and Mashed Banana is a hilariously funny take on freedom of speech in our country. It goes from three actors in real life to three characters on stage caught up in a frenzy of activity ranging from international best sellers that are made into Oscar winning films to instant stardom and conflicting ideologies. The story revolves around a boy who goes on to become a world-famous writer and faces rabid opposition to anything he tries to say or do back home in the country. Interspersed with music and movement, the play tangentially takes digs at ideology and censorship, among other things. Although its intent is to entertain, the play is a result of dissatisfaction over how poorly the freedom of speech is protected. Like it says in the play, there is always someone waiting to tell you…"Don’t you dare say that!"

Director’s Note

It all began with a movie about a lesbian released in India. When it was released, several important people agreed heartily with each other that this was not a good thing at all, but were unsure of what they were agreed on. An uncannily sharp friend commented on this and I saw in it the seed of a play, or at least something resembling a play. Getting the play ready took a good nine months.

Performance Details

• Best Play, Best Original Writing, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Director Award in 2005 at Thespo.

• Invited to perform at Mumbai Kala Ghoda Festival

• Performance on invitation at Adishakti in Pondicherry

• Invited to perform at Prithvi Theatre Festival in November 2006

• Performance on invitation at The MoodIndigo festival at IIT, Powai

• Invited to perform at the JUHU festival, Mumbai.

• Performed on invitation at the Open Space festival "Himmat" in Pune

• Performance on invitation at IIMB, Bangalore

• Invited to perform at The Hindu Theatre Festival Chennai in August 07 and at The Hindu Theatre Festival, Hyderabad.

Harami Theatre

Harami Theatre was founded by Ajay Krishnan in 2004. Harami Theatre’s venture began with Butter and Mashed Banana. Excavators was performed in January 07. It is also written and directed by Ajay Krishan. Excavators was selected for the Writers Bloc Festival conducted by Royal Court Theatre in India. Harami Theatre works with a series of writers, actors, musicians and facilitators, some of whom are permanent members while others work on specific projects.

About the Group

Gulshan Devaiah: One of Bangalore’s best known actors, Gulshan has been involved in theatre for the last five years acting in plays by various directors. He is also a qualified fashion designer from the National Institute of Fashion Technology and helps design costumes for productions. Gulshan’s repertoire includes-Madness directed by Nayantara Roy, two plays with Harami Theatre, two plays with Maareech Theatre, directed by Ranjan Ghoshal and also as an actor in the critically acclaimed " Smashana Kurukshetra" written by Kuvempu.

Vinod Ravindran: Is an actor and director. He has been doing theatre for 10 years and has worked extensively with stalwart directors like B. Jayashree with Spandana Theatre Company as a repertory actor and also with Atul Kumar of The Company Theatre, Mumbai as actor and collaborator. He has worked in both plays produced by Harami Theatre. Vinod teaches theatre arts to students in Bangalore and is involved with directing productions for both children and adults. He lives in Bangalore and practices theatre and has completed his first film assignment

Vivek Madan: Vivek Madan is an actor/director who also works in the entertainment business. He has acted in numerous productions like " Westside Story" directed by Arundhati Raja, "Bent" directed by Preetam Koilpillai and "Moliere’s Flying Doctor" directed by Atul Kumar. He has directed plays like "Children of a lesser God" and " In times of War".

Ajay Krishnan: Is a writer and a director. He wrote and devised Butter and Mashed Banana in 2004. The play was critically acclaimed and has been a remarkable success with audiences everywhere it has performed. It won five awards at the Thespo Festival and has since been invited to perform in prestigious theatre festivals in India and abroad. Ajay has also written a short farce on war titled ‘Lines between a Bullet’. He was recently a part of the Writers Bloc festival in Mumbai, conducted by Rage Theatre Company in association with Royal Court Theatre, London where he wrote, directed and produced "The Excavators". Ajay was also invited to a writer’s residency in the United States at Ledig House, from which he has just returned. His latest work, Hair, written and directed by him and produced by the Evam Youth Forum, has performed 12 shows in Mumbai and four shows in Bangalore before it travels to Liverpool in the UK to perform at Contacting, the world Theatre Festival. Ajay is also a freelance writer and writes on travel and the arts, besides writing and developing film scripts. Ajay has also won awards in various categories for writing short stories. He writes for theatre and film.

Cast and Crew:

Written and Directed: by Ajay Krishnan

Language: English

Duration: 1 hour, 05 minutes. No interval

Music: Ajay Krishnan(Live)

Cast: Gulshan Devaiah, Vinod Ravindran, Vivek Madan

Lights: Sujay Saple

Produced by: Nimi Ravindran