Swamp Studios have announced the full cast and creative team for Night at the Bombay Roxy, a rich, immersive Indian noir, set in the beautiful surroundings of the as-yet-unopened Dishoom restaurant in the iconic Barkers Building in Kensington, London, from 27 November until 11 December.
The lead roles will be performed by Vikash Bhai, who will play the role Cyrus, and Sophie Khan Levy who will play Ursula. They will be joined Raj Aich as Romesh, Seema Bowri as Farah, Manish Gandhi as Rudy and Harmage Singh Kalirai will play the role of the Inspector.
The jazz band will feature Laurence Garrat on double bass, Miguel Gorodi on trumpet, Leon Greening on piano, Dave Ingamells on drums and Helena Kay on saxophone and clarinet.
This talented ensemble of actors and musicians will transport the audience to the opening night of the Bombay Roxy, a café and jazz club housed within a former Art Deco cinema set in Bombay, 1949. The performance will be matched with a lavish dining experience. Audience members will be greeted with welcome cocktails, and then will feast on a menu of classic Bombay dishes as the performance unfolds.
Night at the Bombay Roxy has been created by Swamp Studios, an innovative theatre company, led by Ollie Jones and Clem Garritty (from the award-winning theatre collective Kill the Beast). Directed by Eduard Lewis, Associate Director of Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax (The Old Vic, 2015), the rest of the creative team includes composer Dom Jones, movement director Sara Green, lighting designer Christopher Nairne and sound designer, David Gregory.
Night at the Bombay Roxy will immerse the audience in the intriguing world of 1940s Bombay, where an unexpected and exciting jazz scene was flourishing alongside a uniquely Bombay version of the Art Deco style (the city remains the biggest and best example of Art Deco architecture in the world, after Miami). Whilst Bombay’s architects and designers studied Western Art Deco, they redefined it by creating a distinctive Indian style. Jazz was first introduced to Bombay in the 1930s by touring American artists who opened the city’s ears to new sounds. Local musicians were quick to catch on, and by the 1940s ‘hot jazz’ was everywhere. This was Bombay’s glamorous jazz age, as told in Bombay-based author Naresh Fernandes’ critically acclaimed book, Taj Mahal Foxtrot – the inspiration for this play.
