Running for only two shows and still a work in progress, Love Me Like a Chai Tea Latte is Sanjay Lago’s first show making its Vaults Festival debut. The Vaults Festival is once again demonstrating that for new theatre, you don’t need to have a perfectly polished show, it can still be rough around the edges and have a lot of heart to be fantastically enjoyable.
Imagine my surprise when I walk into The Vaults Festival foyer, and I’m handed a flyer to try and convince me to come to a show, only for it to be a flyer for the very show I’m there to see, from the main man himself, Sanjay Lago. He must just have had a very good intuition to know I had to attend, it was something I’d no doubt enjoy…and if that is the case, then you couldn’t be more right – enjoy I did, to say the least!
Describing himself as a ‘gay Asian’, Sanjay’s show is all about…well, being gay and Asian. In just one hour that flew by, we learnt about who Sanjay was, from hearing his coming out story to awful dates to ‘how’ he became gay, and how at times, these were related to being Asian. So whilst the premise of the show is centred around Lago, the show feels less like a show, and more like you’re just sat with a friend, having a great time listening to his stories. A mixture of storytelling, poetry and Bollywood singing and dancing at one point, that made me laugh until I cried, Lago’s show was a perfect tonic and pick me up for a Tuesday night!
Lago is a natural storyteller. As he recounts tales from the past, his enthusiasm and passion is palpable and infectious, I found myself smiling along with him because it was impossible not to! However, although at face value the show is a laugh-a-minute comedy, there are also some important messages and themes interwoven; racism, cultural complications with being gay in a culture that’s not always welcoming, accepting or even safe with being LGBT, and something that should be simple but tends to be harder in practice: unashamedly being yourself. Lago was able to balance being both charismatic and confident on stage along with being brave to show the vulnerabilities and truths within his stories and poetry too. This is something I think not only is brave – it takes a lot to present a show that is as honest about your own life as his is – but inspiring. Imagine if someone in that audience was watching who was a closeted member of the LGBT community, scared to come out, scared to date. Now imagine that person is also Asian, Middle Eastern, or North African – from somewhere it is not always guaranteed to be easy, safe, and accepted. Love Me Like a Chai Tea Latte may at face value just be a comedy show, but on a deeper level has the potential to make someone feel safe, welcomed, accepted – seen.
The show was only an hour long but considering it was Lago on stage by himself the whole time, he was able to keep the audience captive for the duration, fluidly moving from one element of his piece to the next. I actually found though that I was so invested in his tales that I thought the hour flew by and I could have sat there for another hour and not lost interest! The transition between the comedy aspects of the show to the poetry worked well, as the poetry was when Lago slowed down and it felt like there was a lot more raw emotion displayed; the combination of the two worked well together as it ensured although his show was a comedy piece, the heart of the show was maintained throughout, despite whatever it was Lago was doing at any given moment. With the real stories Lago were telling, the genuine emotion and the authenticity Lago presented himself with, it was impossible not to love him.
Something joyous about shows like these is that there is something in them for everyone. Okay, not everyone is a gay Asian, but everyone can relate to being vulnerable. Everyone has at least one bad dating story. And if you don’t? Then you may learn something about others’ lives, be that in terms of culture, sexuality, of hearing lived experiences of someone not like you. And that is part of what makes theatre so beautiful, isn’t it? Through stories and by watching someone on stage, we learn – about them on stage yes, but also sometimes things about ourselves on the way too.
Watching Love Me Like a Chai Tea Latte, felt like a safe space for anyone and everyone and I left with a smile still on my face. Whilst the show only ran for two days, it has firmly stayed in my memory for all the right reasons. Whilst this show was very much still a work in progress (defined this way by Lago himself, not my words!), it was every part as entertaining as I hoped and I really genuinely look forward to seeing what Sanjay Lago does in the future, be it with Love Me Like a Chai Tea Latte or otherwise.
Love Me Like a Chai Tea Latte ran at The Vaults Festival on the 7th & 8th of February 2023. You can follow Sanjay Lago on Twitter & Instagram at @Sanjaylago or visit his website at https://www.sanjaylago.co.uk/
One Show at a Time 