by Guleraana Mir & Afshan D'souza Lodhi
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘will stay with you long after you leave the theatre’ - The Queer Review
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'While training its lens on a small story of female friendship, Madelaine Moore’s neat one-hour production speaks eloquently about the wider experience of Partition and sexual equality.' - The Stage
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'Vital and utterly charming'- Broadway Baby
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 'brimful of joyful exuberance' - Three Weeks
'Madelaine Moore’s production... reminds that the minimalism and economy that the Vaults demands can bring benefits not just constraints.' - Lyn Gardner for Stagedoor
⭐⭐⭐⭐ '...looks to the past to shine a light on the perils of the present.' - To Do List
⭐⭐⭐⭐ ‘A delight to watch, telling the kind of story that isn’t often seen on stage.’ - London Theatre 1
Photo by Steve Gregson
Photo by Steve Gregson
Photo by Steve Gregson
Photo by Steve Gregson
Winner of the Charlie Hartill Award, Santi & Naz has most recently been seen at The Pleasance as part of the Edinburgh Festival 2023
in collaboration with writer Guleraana MIr, I developed the concept for this tale of two young women – one Sikh, one Muslim – standing fast against circumstances that would separate them. In 1945, two years before the partition of India, Santi and Naz are best friends who only think about stealing books, swimming in the lake and spying on the local hottie. But as social unrest spreads and families and communities are torn apart, neither understands how their religions are set to divide them, having lived side-by-side all their lives. As much a coming out story as a coming of age one, when Naz is betrothed to a tailor in Rawalpindi and her feelings for Santi become complex and confusing, the girls reach cross-roads with terrible consequence.
Santi & Naz contributes to a conversation about postcolonial legacy whilst telling a fresh new story of female friendship, love, loyalty and identity, drawing from the recent legalisation of homosexuality in India in 2018. The show is set just before the partition of India, which split the country into Hindu and Sikh-majority India and Muslim-majority Pakistan, displacing over ten million people and leaving over one million dead. It has been described as the greatest humanitarian crisis of modern times, and the effects of the division can still be felt today.
Santi & Naz debuted at VAULT Festival 2020. There it won an Origins Award for outstanding new work. It went on to be nominated as a finalist for Best Stage Production in the Asian Media Awards 2020
Santi: Rose-Marie Christian
Naz: Karendip Phull
Created by The Thelmas
Written by Guleraana Mir & Afshan D'souza Lodhi
Set & Costume Design - Sascha Gilmour
Associate Set & Costume Design - Fay Rusted
Lighting Design - Martha Godfrey
Composition & Sound Design - Tom Curzon
Production Manager - Josephine Shipp
Associate Producer - Sarah Verghese
Co-produced with The Pleasance
