Sanjay Lago is doing a line of poetry
We speak to writer, actor and comedian Sanjay about Doctor Who, hot beverages and poems.
A small heads up, this interview contains some discussion of suicide.
The first performance I remember ever seeing live is my family taking me to the Singing Kettle. It was a large red kettle with a black handle, and it's kind of like panto, but not. I asked some of my English friends if they knew it and they’d never heard of it. Turns out it’s a very Scottish thing…
On a show day I wake up, do all the usual things, brush my teeth, have a shower, etc. I've also got a new addiction to some pills, but they're not just any pills. They’re from the Poetry Pharmacy. They’ve been such a positive in my life, there’s so many different themes like “inspiration” “be original” “slow down”. I love my “poemacetamol”! I’ve brought one today, these are from the bottle “Slow Down” and I thought I’d let you guys choose one…
So I like to start the day by doing a wee pill of poetry. Then depending on when my call time is, I would watch an episode of Doctor Who: usually it has to be a Martha or Donna series. I’m a massive Doctor Who fan and there's always an element of Doctor Who in my process.
People often ask me, why is Doctor Who such a big thing for you? When I was 12, I attempted to take my own life on a few occasions (this is what my other show is about). People are always impressed about how openly I talk about it, but I think that if I don't talk about it, then I would still be the really quiet, shy Sanjay I was then. It was around the same time that Doctor Who came out. It was 2005 and I remember it being this really momentous thing: my dad was excited, my mom was excited. They kept talking about “the garlic”, which really confused me: what's the garlic? Turns out they were saying “Dalek”. I sat down to watch the first episode and from the moment that Rose came on, I had found an escape. Every Saturday night I had 45 minutes of not thinking about the bullies, not thinking about where the next punch was coming from, not thinking about how I wanted to run away. I could just escape into the world of Doctor Who. That’s where I really fell in love with storytelling.
So on a show day I try to do things that are joyful, like watch Doctor Who or get to the venue a bit earlier and read a book. I’ll then do my voice warm ups – I’m big fan of Nadine George – do a bit of movement, ease the body in, and then chill. If it's someone else's writing, then I'm a bit more rigid, and I’ll go over the script a lot more. I’m dyslexic so it takes me longer to learn the lines. In general I try to talk less on a show day, but if I see people that I know, that really doesn’t happen. I also listen to music, but always music that lives within the world of my show. So this show – spoiler alert – contains a version of Womanizer by Bitney Spears. But is it Womanizer? That’s the question…
Right before I go on stage I might open another pill or write a wee poem and have a nervous pee. I don’t really eat during the day of the show, I’ll have something at one or two and then that’s it. I guess because I’m nervous or I don’t want to shit myself or vomit. Maybe it’s not that good for you but it works! My other ritual is that I have a photo of some of the people I love (family, partner and friends) and I say a wee thank you to them for supporting me with the work I do. And I do a wee meditation right before I go on stage, just to calm the nerves and get into the zone.
There’s a combination of poetry and comedy in the show. As an artist I love collaboration. I love working with different people, and fusing together different art forms. And I feel like poetry is such a perfect way for when you're talking about such deep topics like mental health, not just to give those vivid images to the audience, but to give them a whole world where those images live. You’re not saying directly what the image is but presenting another way of exploring and creating those images, through poetry.
If anything goes wrong: the answer is always improv. I love improv. When Soho Theatre asked me what my latecomers policy was and I was like oh whenever because then I can just bring it into the world of the show. The show itself is structured around this idea of a book launch so that works quite well and I can be a bit cheeky with any of the latecomers!
The first thing I’ll do when I get off stage is breathe and maybe take a puff of my inhaler. Originally I kind of wrote this show as a joke, because I thought, why not? Let's talk about my life and dating and being queer and POC in Scotland. And now it's become such a beautiful world and I’m so excited to be performing it at the Soho Theatre, whose work I really love. So I think when I come off stage, it will be elation that I feel and maybe also a sigh of relief. I’ll come off, breathe and get changed. I’ll have brought a couple of nice outfits for after the show, so will be changing out of costume and into some more fabulous clothing!
After I finish the show I’ll usually go out and see my friends and get a hot drink. My hot beverage of choice…I do love Chai. I love proper Indian, homemade Chai. None of these syrups that you get in Costa. That or an oat or coconut milk hot chocolate.
I'm more the kind of person that after a show, I want to hear you. So I'm past the age of going out. There's only one night club I’d go to in Glasgow and that’s Mango. They do Latino, Reggaeton, Afrobeats, and if I do go out then it’s there. When I’m on that dance floor my hands, my shoulders, my arse, they come alive! But that's very rare for me. I'd rather go somewhere to have some nibbles, maybe with a live band playing. I’m getting to that age where I want to sit in a corner, sip a lemonade, listen to a trumpet and be home by midnight. Then go home, cuddle up in bed with a book and a cup of tea. Watch some Doctor Who maybe.
With this show coming to Soho Theatre, I’m also grateful to the three creative legends who saw potential in the show and myself to support me. They are my director Dimple Pau, producer Shaz Khalid and Dramaturg Yolanda Mercy. The learning and growth I’ve had from them has been brilliant. And also a shout out should go to my agents Wintersons and Jess for supporting my creative ventures in this crazy industry, my parents, brother and partner and true friends. These people have held me when things have been tough and I’m forever grateful! Soho Rising I’m ready!
Sanjay’s show Love Me Like A Chai Tea Latte is at Soho Theatre, Dean Street, 10 - 11 February as part of Soho Rising 2025 🎪💕 You can get a little taster of the show from this article by Neurodiverse Review here.