Santi & Naz – Soho Theatre

Pretty much every person that walked into the dimly lit, intimate space of Soho Theatre paused for a beat at the unusual sight of the actors already being present on the stage. Two young women lay on the floor, tracing lines on the ground and humming to themselves. They waited in that comfortably contemplative state as the audience settled in, like a visual preface.

Santi and Naz are the best of friends, having grown up together in a little village in pre-partition India. Their meeting place is by a lake, under the shade of a tree, where they play-act, tell jokes, and talk about the hazy future. Naz is blissfully unaware of the political turmoil, while Santi reads and tries to keep up with what is going on. One Muslim and the other Sikh, neither of them knows just how much the events of the coming years are going to change their lives.

Written by Guleraana Mir and afshan d’souza-lodhi, and directed by Madelaine Moore, the play presents a female perspective of the times. Even as the two women sing, dance, and read banned literature, the politics of the time tinges everything they do. Their pastime is imitating the speeches of Gandhi and Jinnah. The boy that Santi has a crush on turns out to be a campaigner for partition and eventually a thug. There are rumours about a train full of murdered people, there are blood-stained weapons.

Their personal lives are changing too. Naz is finding out that her love for Santi may be more than platonic. She is betrothed to a man they had both once laughed at, and even as his shiny gifts win her over, she knows she will not survive the marriage.

As the line of partition is drawn and Pakistan created, the friends have only one promise to hold on to – as long as there is the monsoon, they will be friends. Water is a frequent motif through the play. It takes the form of rain, the girls’ beloved lake, in dreams as a waterfall and as a lake filling with blood.

Aiyana Bartlett​ as Santi and Farah Ashraf as Naz are delightful. Their laughter is infectious – when they giggle, you giggle. They look entirely comfortable in their characters and you have no reason to doubt that they are indeed best of friends. The play has heart and humour in equal parts and the two women deliver it with great flair.

Reviewer: Savitha Venugopal

Reviewed: 23rd January 2025

North West End UK Rating: