There is yoga, and then there is yoga. One is the kind that has been repackaged for a Western audience and the other is the kind that is deeply rooted in an ancient culture. The Anti “Yogi” – which comes with the tag line “Liberation, not lululemon” – is a rebellion against the former.
Written and performed by Mayuri Bhandari, this production is directed by Shyamala Moorty & D’Lo. Mayuri starts off with the warning that the show will contain triggering words like manifestation and mindfulness. Triggering not for the audience, but for her.
She delves into the multi-billion-dollar yoga industry in the US, where yoga has been commodified and stripped of its essence, leaving only a misunderstood and repackaged husk. She laments the topsy-turviness of it all, and how something she grew up with is being marketed back to her, how she is told she does not understand it.
Helping her with the narration are the idols placed in the yoga studio – Budai with the accent of a friendly South Asian uncle, a very Californian Krishna, silent Tirthankaras, and the fierce Kali. By embodying them, and with dance and music, Mayuri takes the audience through the values she grew up with, her identity (“I’m not exotic, I’m exhausted!”), and her journey towards finding her cause.
The fact that Mayuri is a professional dancer, figure skater and yoga teacher is evident in the effortlessly fluid way in which she moves. She is accompanied on stage by Neel Agarwal brilliantly playing multiple percussion instruments; he is also the music composer of the show.
While entertaining, one comes away with the feeling that we only skimmed the surface of very many things. A lack of depth that probably comes from tackling too many points of interest in an hourlong show. There is the appropriation and exoticising of culture and all the problems that come with that, there is erasure of identity in order to fit in, there is the Dakota Access Pipeline protests and the lives of indigenous communities. Perhaps as the show grows, there will be a sharpening of focus and a refining of its politics. For now, there is many a laugh and a delightful dancer-yogi to watch.
The Anti “Yogi” runs until 16th May at Soho Theatre with tickets available at https://sohotheatre.com/
Reviewer: Savitha Venugopal
Reviewed: 7th May 2026
North West End UK Rating: