The very clever and extremely talented guys from Swamp have been scouring all of London (and beyond) for the best and most talented individuals to bring to life our one-off immersive theatre production Night at the Bombay Roxy.
We’re thrilled to share that after many applications, headshots, lines delivered, improvisations improvised and songs belted out, we have our full cast and crew! (It’s all of sudden becoming very real).
Without further ado, introducing… Cyrus, Ursula and the Bombay Roxy team.
The lead roles will be performed by Vikash Bhai, who will play the role of 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 live 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 our diners-turned-audience members 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 welcome cocktails and a lavish dining experience of our best Bombay dishes as the performance unfolds.
Night at the Bombay Roxy is a rich, immersive, Indian noir. We’ve been working with 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.
The show 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 (and our dear friends) Naresh Fernandes’ critically acclaimed book, Taj Mahal Foxtrot – the inspiration for this play.
The production will play out in the beautiful surroundings of the as-yet-unopened Dishoom Kensington from 27th November until 14th December 2017. For tickets and info see the production For tickets and info see the production website.
Dishoom Kensington will officially open at midday on 15th December 2017 and we’d love to invite you all to help us prepare for the opening by attending our soft launch. The soft launch will run from Thursday 16th November until Wednesday 22nd November (8am-11pm weekdays, 9am-11pm weekends). You can all enjoy 50% off your food as thanks for helping out with this final stage of our training.
After the soft launch, there is a rather complicated opening-closing business, due to the theatre production. Please see our journal for exact details on when you can visit!
We often find it too easy to hurtle through the days, in an attempt to outpace the bustling city – be it London or Bombay – which always seems to be running away like a steam-engine train on a rickety track. Occasionally, it does us good to pause for thought, to disembark the carriage and sit on the platform awhile.
How does one create a space where people can truly connect over food? How can a host make their guests feel relaxed, at ease, and suitably cared for? Since launching our all-new Dishoom Crockery, we have been pondering the answers to these questions even more than usual. We recently discussed them with Creative Director - and frequent dinner party hostess - Kirthanaa Naidu when we invited her to create a first-class tablescape in our Canary Wharf café.
Each year, the spring equinox – when day and night are equal length – marks a transition in earth’s relationship with the sun. This event, sacred to many cultures throughout history, today thrives as a new year celebration for hundreds of millions.
In Bombay, London, and throughout the South Asian diaspora, you’ll find many folks of the Zoroastrian faith (amongst others) celebrating this new year, or Navroz as we like to call it.
A nurturing presence, neatly packed lunches, and homes that exude warmth – radiating from the walls and from the person within. In uncertain times, we look to the motherly figures in our lives for gentle guidance, affection and life’s most important lessons. For those looking to show gratitude this Mother’s Day, new curiosities have appeared on the Dishoom Store. We hope to impart a little inspiration as we share gifts to guarantee warm smiles.