Santi & Naz

Review by Penny

⭐⭐

Santi & Naz sees two best friends fall on either side of India’s 1947 partition – we jump through snippets of their lives from children to young women and see their shared story unfold.

Guleraana Mir and Afshan D’Souza’s script is such a lovely exploration of a host of challenging themes, ranging from political unrest and religious divides to queer awakenings and abusive relationships; perhaps unsurprisingly, 75 minutes is not enough to delve into this layered story with the depth it deserves. The writing itself is beautifully charming, incredibly witty, and darkly harrowing when it needs to be. It is a shame that, ultimately, the performances don’t let this compelling script reach its full potential.

While both performers certainly have a knack for more over-the-top comedy, there is a fairly consistent lack of nuance and depth of character that is so desperately needed to tell this story properly and have us invest fully in these protagonists. What cannot be discredited, however, is their chemistry with one another which certainly shines throughout. Madelaine Moore’s direction sees the women move around the space and each other with engaging ease – excellent use of such a small and simplistic stage set up.

Tom Curzon's sound design and composition is exquisite in its subtlety and brilliantly effective, enhanced by excellent lighting design from Laura Howard - Howard's efforts help make a minimalist space malleable and draw us into the story's more emotional beats.

Such an interesting concept with potential for a bright future, Santi & Naz runs at Soho Theatre until Saturday 8th February.