Bhangra Nation Launch | Birmingham Rep

We’re still celebrating the success of our launch event last night (Thu 25 Jan) for our highly anticipated upcoming production Bhangra Nation – A New Musical.

Guests, which included industry influencers, friends of The Rep and theatre enthusiasts, were given a sneak preview of the production, which centres around the world of competitive Bhangra.

As these images show, the atmosphere was electric as attendees soaked up a live taster of the songs for this musical comedy, which tells the story of friendship and the importance of following your dreams!

Launch Images

1 /

Bhangra Nation Launch Event. Some of the cast of Bhangra Nation in the middle of a dance performance. In their right hands are colourful pieces of fabric. Their left hands are held to the left of the image with their palms towards the camera.

Bhangra Nation Launch Event. Some of the cast of Bhangra Nation in the middle of a dance performance. In the foreground, a male and female singer are leant towards each other. In the background the rest of the cast - a man wearing red-jogging bottoms, a woman wearing grey-jogging bottoms and a woman wearing blue-jogging bottoms are dancing.

Some of the cast of Bhangra Nation in the middle of a dance performance. They are smiling with their arms in the air, holding colourful pieces of fabric in their right hands.

Bhangra Nation Launch Event. In the foreground, a male singer wearing red-jogging bottoms is singing in the middle of the rest of the cast. He has one leg raised in the air, his foot towards the camera.

Bhangra Nation Launch Event. Guests are standing on the stairs looking down at a performance. They are smiling proudly.

Sean Foley, who is wearing a dark denim jacket and jeans, is standing on a stage at the Bhangra Nation Launch Event passing a microphone to Satnam Rana who is smiling widely back towards him.

Bhangra Nation Launch Event. Five people standing in a circle talking to each other. On the left is Kuljit Bhamra, next to him is Parv Kaur, who is laughing. Next to her, a woman with short black hair in a bob, is smiling widely. Then, a woman wearing a floral shirt in light and vibrant pink. And finally, with her shoulder towards the camera, a woman wearing a red shawl with black leopard spots.

Members of the Bhangra Nation cast are posing for a picture together at the Bhangra Nation Launch Event. They all have joyous, wide smiles.

Bhangra Nation Launch Event. A black and white image of a crowd of people lined up on the stairs and just below it. Many have their phones out recording.

Bhangra Nation Launch event. Stafford Arima (the director of Bhangra Nation) is stood next to Sam Willmott (who wrote the music and lyrics for the show) and Sean Foley (artistic director at The Rep). They are all smiling at the camera and holding small canapes from Dishoom.

Bhangra Nation Launch Event. Several glasses of prosecco on top of a table with a white table cloth. The glasses are arranged in a diamond-shape facing towards the camera. In front of the glasses is a menu from the restaurant Dishoom and a fanned out stack of flyers for Bhangra Nation.

Bhangra Nation Launch Event. A menu from the restaurant Dishoom that is propped up on a small easel on a black table. In front of the menu is a fanned out stack of flyers for Bhangra Nation.

Bhangra Nation Launch Event. In the foreground, a waiter dressed in all black is offering canapés to a young woman with light brown hair, who is also wearing black. She is smiling at the waiter with a canapé in her hand. In the background is a woman wearing a yellow blazer and black glasses. She is smiling at the camera.

Bhangra Nation Launch Event. In the foreground, a tall man with a black puffer jacket is standing and talking with women. The woman in the middle, is wearing a black speckled coat and a blue blouse. The other woman, is Satnam Rana who is wearing a grey sequined hoodie. In the background, an young Asian man wearing a turban and a red windbreaker is looking off to the side.

Bhangra Nation Launch Event. In the foreground, a waiter dressed in all black is offering canapés to a young woman who is looking down at the tray of canapés and is about to pick one up. In the background is a woman, Siobhan Athwal, is wearing yellow trousers, a black top and a long gold chain. She has a cup of food from Dishoom in her hands and photobombing the picture with a wide smile.

Bhangra Nation Launch Event. A man standing on the left of the image is wearing a dark green jumper is smiling towards Parv Kaur. Another man, Sam Willmott, is sitting down at a keyboard to the right of him, smiling excitedly and clapping. To the right of this man, Kuljit Bhamra, is a man wearing a black top playing a tabla. To the right of him, is a woman wearing a grey blazer, Parv Kaur, a black top and black jeans playing a dhol drum.

Bhangra Nation launch event. The cast of Bhangra Nation are singing together. The atmosphere is joyous and energetic.

We were thrilled that journalist and presenter Satnam Rana could join us to talk about her own experience of Bhangra in Birmingham and to introduce a Q&A with members of the creative team, Rehana Lew Mirza and Mike Lew who wrote the book, Sam Willmott, who wrote the music and lyrics and Rujuta Vaidya, the production choreographer.

Guests were treated to a delicious selection of food from Indian restaurant Dishoom as they mingled with the cast and creatives.

Bhangra Nation Launch event. A member of the Dishoom team holding two platters of delicious Dishoom food and standing next to a poster that thanks them for providing the food for the evening.

This exhilarating new musical has been created by an international creative team, brought together by Tony and Grammy Award-winning producers Mara Isaacs (Hadestown), Tom Kirdahy (Hadestown, The Inheritance) and Peggy Koenig.

Bhangra Nation promises to be a must-see cultural phenomenon, with a predominately South Asian led cast and input from Bhangra experts Parambeer Samrai (dance) and Kuljit Bhamra (music).

We cannot wait to share this fantastic production with Birmingham, the home of modern Bhangra, and beyond!

Book Now