REVIEW: Period Parrrty at Soho Theatre until 22 November 2025
‘teenage angst, culture clashes and coming out’ ★★★★
Krish is 14, and their mother wants to throw a traditional Tamil period party to celebrate the onset of puberty. The only thing is, Krish is non-binary. Writer Gayathiri Kamalakanthan’s play explores the intersection between heritage and sexuality in this funny and heart-warming play. There were lots of laugh out loud moments as Krish and their best friend Brenavee navigated the expectations of their Tamil families, the anxieties of coming out and using a tampon for the first time.
The pace of the writing was well judged for the first half of the play, and the comedy shone, however there was a little too much exposition for my taste as Kamalakanthan tried to teach the audience about things like Hinduism, the legacy of colonialism and the communal violence that pervaded Sri Lanka. She covered important topics but often in ways that were too “on the nose”, and the ending was a bit twee.
Elizabeth Green as Krish and Tanvi Virmani as Brenavee had wonderful chemistry and bounced off each other brilliantly in the comedic moments. Rani Moorthy’s Brintha (Krish’s Mum) was nicely judged. The set was deceptively simple but clever as the play shifted from scene to scene. Kudos to designer Katie Scott. Gitika Buttoo’s direction brought energy to the piece and created some lovely moments, however I thought she could have done more with the “thrust” layout of the space.
The voiceovers didn’t always work as it was sometimes unclear who was speaking to whom. At times, the voiceovers felt like an unnecessary devise that didn’t add enough to the piece to justify their inclusion.
As a straight Bengali, a lot of the queer and Tamil references went over my head (thanks to the person in the loo who explained the significance of the film “Jeans”) but the people in the audience from those communities clearly loved those moments.
All in all, this is a lovely show and well worth a watch.
Period Party by Gayathiri Kamalakanthan
Soho Theatre, 23 October – 22 November 2025
BOX OFFICE https://sohotheatre.com/events/period-parrrty/
Performer: Elizabeth Green, Rani Moorthy, Tanvi Virmani
Director: Gitika Buttoo
Movement Director: Sundeep (Sunny) Saini
Designer: Katie Scott
Lighting Designer: Jahmiko Marshal,
Sound Designer / Composer: Niroshini Thambar,
Casting Director: Olivia Barr
Photo credit: Ikin Yum
Reviewer: Srabani Sen
Srabani is a theatre actress and playwright. As an actress she has performed at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse (The Globe), the Arcola, Southwark Playhouse, The Pleasance and numerous fringe theatres, in a range of roles from Shakespeare to plays by new and emerging writers. She has written several short and full length plays. Her play Tawaif was longlisted for the ETPEP Finborough award, and her play Vijaya was shortlisted for the Sultan Padamsee Playwrights Award in Mumbai.
