CENTRE STAGE

CLOWNING GLORY

Srutika Sabu is a gen 1.5 Malayali-Canadian doctor turned clown and multidisciplinary artiste.

The 2025 Paprika Festival Creative Producers Unit is presenting Neptune’s With a Fish, a new work by doctor-turned-clown Srutika Sabu.

Directed by Gordon Neil (Sweet Action Theatre), Neptune’s With a Fish is an existential musical comedy starring Malayali-Canadians Srutika Sabu (1 Santosh Santosh 2 Go) and Amrutha Krishnan (Mahjong Mafia Comedy). Sabu plays Chandra, a med school grad who is exiled to a magical Toronto and must appease the talking egg (Krishnan) she has laid.

Med school grad Chandra’s promising future implodes when she lays a really annoying, talking egg. Banished to a magical Toronto, she’s forced into an uneasy alliance with the egg. Facilitated by Fatuma Adar, and mentored by Amy Nostbakken and Norah Sadava of The Quote Unquote Collective, Neptune’s With a Fish is a semi-autobiographical musical comedy infused with clown energy that merges the psychological angst of Severance with the playful whimsy of Kiki’s Delivery Service with the profound nonsense of Revolutionary Girl Utena. It’s an absurd and heartfelt dive into South Asian exceptionalism, inner child wounds, Saturn Returns, and the exhilarating terror of figuring life out right before one turns 30.

Neptune’s With a Fish premieres as part of Paprika Festival on May 14 and 17 at Native Earth’s Aki Studio in Toronto. Just in time for Asian Heritage Month, this show talks about the generational mental health toll that points-based immigration system has, and the Asian model minority myth.

Srutika Sabu (she/they) is a gen 1.5 Malayali-Canadian doctor turned clown and multidisciplinary artiste. A medical school existential crisis led her to Toronto, where she embraced her late-bloomer theatre kid era. Through clown training at Sweet Action Theatre, she discovered her drag king persona, Santosh Santosh (aka Tosh), who starred in the 2024 Toronto Fringe show 1 Santosh Santosh 2 Go, directed by Ken Hall (The Umbrella Academy).

Software engineer, thought leader, and second-hand Tesla owner Santosh Santosh aka Tosh seems to have it all – at least, until his discerning immigrant parents weigh in. Guided by the voice in his head, Santosh learns to find his groove through wild Kollywood dance-offs, anime boss battles, and spicy hot sauce torture that defies reason. It was a critical hit and fan favourite at Toronto Fringe, WT-Festival, and Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival.

Sabu has since performed at Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival, Montreal Sketchfest, and WTFesti-val, crafting work that blends absurdity, vulnerability, and joy. The winner of the 2025 Mahendra Joshi Playwriting Competition, Srutika sees storytelling as a form of knowledge creation, using performance to challenge dominant narratives and explore identity, connection, and cultural memory.

This year, in addition to Paprika Festival’s Creative Producers Unit, she is part of Buddies in Bad Times’ Emerging Creators Unit, Theatre Gargantua’s Artist Roundtable, and Nightwood Theatre’s Shadow Residency in Fundraising – expanding her practice across performance, production, and artistic development.

She will bring her hit show 1 Santosh Santosh 2 Go: Tosh Finds His Groove to Upintheair Theatre’s rEvolver Festival from May 30-31 in Vancouver.

Paprika Festival is a youth-led professional performing arts organization where emerging artistes and arts administrators access paid opportunities, mentorships, and hands-on labs to develop their artistic practices and gain professional experience in production and arts management.

When and where

Neptune’s With a Fish, Wednesday, May 14, at 7pm; Saturday, May 17, at 2 pm. Aki Studio, Daniels Spectrum, Toronto. Tickets and info here.

1 Santosh Santosh 2 Go: Tosh Finds His Groove, Friday, May 30, at 6:30 pm; Saturday, May 31, at 7:45pm. C-Lab in Vancouver.

Tickets on a pay-what-you-choose sliding scale $18-$33. Tickets and passes here.