Shepperton film studios

Shepperton film studios is the setting for a party staged inside a giant sound stage transformed into a miniature, rearranged London. The film-set city first dazzles its guests as a spectacle; then, amid its counterfeit streets and theatrical crowds, it becomes the place where Saladin Chamcha finally confronts his determination to find Gibreel Farishta.

The sound stage and its production

The party’s hosts, Billy Battuta and Mimi Mamoulian, hold the event on a giant sound stage at Shepperton film studios, which S. S. Sisodia has apparently secured at no cost. The venue is being used for a big-budget film adaptation of Charles Dickens’s last completed novel. Rechristened Friend! for the musical, with book and lyrics by Jeremy Bentham, the production had already become a major hit in the West End and on Broadway; in the film business, it is known as The Chums.

A city condensed for cinema

Inside the sound stage, London has not simply been reproduced but condensed to meet the demands of film. Places that belong to different parts of the city are thrust together: the Veneerings’ new Stucconia lies beside Portman Square, while Boffin’s Bower looms over Fascination Fledgeby’s rooms in the Albany, in the West End. The arrangement makes the set’s artificial geography visible even as the reborn city takes the guests’ breath away.

The strongest illusion gathers around the river. Fog and dry ice drift over a winding, ebbing Thames, where Gaffer Hexam’s boat passes beneath an iron bridge and a stone one. Guests walk the cobbled banks as the set’s mist, props, and ominous footsteps turn a film location into a theatrical world that feels at once vivid and knowingly fabricated.

The party and the crowd

On the appointed night, in dreadful heat, Pamela Chamcha and Jumpy Joshi arrive in Pamela’s MG. Saladin Chamcha, having declined their company, comes by one of the coaches provided for guests who would rather be driven. Gibreel is there too, wandering inside the set. The gathering mixes society grandees, fashion models, film stars, corporate executives, minor royals, politicians, hired extras in period dress, and leading players in the movie. Their sweat-glossed bodies make the distinction between the real party and its staged population seem as unstable as the distinction between the city and its imitation.

Saladin’s pursuit of Gibreel

When Saladin sees Gibreel on the stone London Bridge, he recognizes that reaching him has been the true purpose of his journey, a purpose he had kept from himself until that moment. Gibreel stands among the party’s celebrated figures, with Alleluia Cone beside him and S. S. Sisodia nearby. Saladin struggles through the thickening crowd, intent on getting to him, but a showstopping number begins and the crowd parts in a sudden theatrical rush. Thrown off balance and crushed against a fake half-timbered building, he retreats into a Curiosity Shop to save himself. The studio thus turns an attempted personal encounter into public spectacle: the city’s staged streets, moving crowds, and musical performance obstruct Saladin even as they draw him toward Gibreel.