Hi!
My name is Mayaan, and I am a driven Sri Lankan theatre-maker who seeks to inspire both the members of my company and audiences to dream. I hope to celebrate the human condition through purposeful storytelling with various theatrical productions.
My name is Mayaan, and I am a driven Sri Lankan theatre-maker who seeks to inspire both the members of my company and audiences to dream. I hope to celebrate the human condition through purposeful storytelling with various theatrical productions.
My goal for each show has always been for audience members to walk out feeling slightly better than when they walked in—as a way of creating small positive ripples in the world through my work.
My practice has taken me globally, as I have created work and trained in Sri Lanka and England. These experiences have instilled within me a need to create spaces that promote creativity, joy, and safety.
Thank you for visiting my website. Please go to the 'Contact' page in the menu bar to reach me.
More About Mayaan
Mayaan is the Artistic Director and founder of the Sri Lankan theatre company Clutch Plays (established in 2020).
Mayaan completed his MFA in Theatre Directing at East 15 Acting School, University of Essex. His areas of study included Contemporary British Theatre, Improvisation and Devising, Music Theatre, Russian Theatre (Stanislavski, Vakhtangov, Meyerhold), Physical Theatre, Shakespeare, Assistant Directing, and Directing at Drama Schools.
In 2021, he directed his first Clutch Plays show, Boys Play, by Jack Heifner. He has then gone on to direct Tiny Beautiful Things (2022) by Nia Vardalos & Cheryl Strayed, 12 Incompetent Jurors (2023) by Ian McWethy, The Amazing Lemonade Girl (2024) by James Devita, and How to Defend Yourself (2025) by Liliana Padilla for Clutch Plays.
Mayaan organizes and conducts theatre-based workshops for schools, universities, and amateur and professional practitioners in various techniques, from improvisation and devising performance tools to acting and directing practices. He has experience running school theatre departments and organizing theatrical productions, events, and competitions.
From 2017 to 2022, Mayaan directed various school shows in Sri Lanka.
For Asian International School, this included Antigone (2018) by Sophocles, Othello (2020) by William Shakespeare, and The House of Bernarda Alba (2022) by Federico García Lorca. For Royal College, this included Under the Stars (2017) by Boake/Harward House, Macbeth (2018), and Romeo and Juliet (2019) by William Shakespeare.
Mayaan began his theatre career as an actor for Royal College Colombo, first acting as a member of the Ensemble/Messenger in a production of Macbeth (2014). He then went on to play Gadshill in a production of Henry IV Part 1 (2015). He followed by playing Ralph/Hong Kong Consul in Around the World in 80 Days (2016), before his final performance at Royal College, where he played the titular role of Julius Caesar in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar (2016). Since then, Mayaan has played the Narrator for the Clutch Plays Theatre performance of A Very Big God, and has made his professional acting debut as Trifko (Cover) in Archduke, written by Rajiv Joseph, at the Royal Court Theatre.
In November 2025, Mayaan was appointed Resident Director (First titled Trainee Director, then Resident Director) at the Royal Court Theatre. He served as Assistant Director on the Olivier Award-nominated production of The Shitheads by Jack Nicholls, directed by David Byrne and Aneesha Srinivasan, and on Archduke by Rajiv Joseph, directed by Lyndsey Turner. Other directing credits from Mayaan's time at the Royal Court include Duppies by Tia-Reneé Mullings and Aunties In The USSR by Rebecca Banatvala at the Open Subs Festival, as well as A Shadow on the Ocean by Lucy Varley, Bus Stop of Strangers by Thomas Mossman, and You Can’t Say That by Dhaani Singh at the Young Playwrights Award.
In November 2025, Mayaan was appointed Resident Director (First titled Trainee Director, then Resident Director) at the Royal Court Theatre. He served as Assistant Director on the Olivier Award-nominated production of The Shitheads by Jack Nicholls, directed by David Byrne and Aneesha Srinivasan, and on Archduke by Rajiv Joseph, directed by Lyndsey Turner. Other directing credits from Mayaan's time at the Royal Court include Duppies by Tia-Reneé Mullings and Aunties In The USSR by Rebecca Banatvala at the Open Subs Festival, as well as A Shadow on the Ocean by Lucy Varley, Bus Stop of Strangers by Thomas Mossman, and You Can’t Say That by Dhaani Singh at the Young Playwrights Award.
