Gabriel Dharmoo as Bijuriya | Image by Chris Randle, design by Fran Chudnoff
Though I wouldn’t say I’m especially passionate about it, haven’t followed the Drag Race hype machine, I certainly appreciate drag as an art form and entertainment. I’ve been quite dazzled and delighted by the innovation, camp and playful character. Bijuriya, presented by Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, has added an intellectual element into the mix that captivates me. Gabriel Dharmoo—and his outrageous alter ego, Bijuriya, take us on a flamboyant, informative, and whimsical meta-theatrical deconstruction.
A classically trained musician, Dharmoo’s original compositions figure prominently into the performance. Inspired by Indian Carnatic music and featuring richly textured, often dissonant and eerie sounds, the music is woven in and out, both an atmospheric backdrop and object for our scrutiny. His sound design also incorporates disparate elements of noise taken from vibrant Indian street life and random quotidian phenomena that provide familiar ambiance.
Bollywood features heavily and, though most of the very specific references are entirely unfamiliar to me, I was intrigued and invested. There are some exceptionally entertaining numbers here, though my favourite moments from the show are the pre-recorded discussions between himself and Bijuriya where they playfully flatter and interrogate each other, often as Dharmoo leisurely undresses and redressed himself-herself for a variety of personae.
There are several outfits that feature character-defining wigs. It’s all marvellous spectacle. I think my favourite is an ensemble that appears quite early on—a simultaneously garish and sophisticated get-up that seems to reference Princess Jasmin, a mermaid, a lounge singer and Marge Simpson all at once!
Dharmoo and Bijuriya are endearing and articulate as they examine Dharmoo’s artistry, both a disciplined academic and whimsical, cheeky chanteuse. A central concern here is the way drag developed as an performative outlet and device to access and combine his Anglo-French Indianness and Queerness—a journey that is compelling conveyed here. I found his eloquent homage to the power and significance of the human voice especially beautiful.
Also quite touching is his tribute to some legends of Bollywood cinema and a moderate scandal that arose from their fraught entanglement. This fascinating and poignant tangent becomes the production’s most poetic and insightful examination of the complex and fluctuating nature of identity, as we embody and perceive it.
Bijuriya
November 26 to 29, 2025
Buddies in Bad Times Theatre
(12 Alexander Street)
80 minutes
Gabriel Dharmoo as Bijuriya | Photos by Bangishimo and Chris Randle