RSC to stage Rushdie novel

The Royal Shakespeare Company is to perform a version of Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, it was reported today.

The RSC is planning a stage production of the Booker Prize-winning novel that will premiere at the Barbican in January, before going on tour around Britain and the US.

Rushdie has brought in director Tim Supple, who previously had success with his 1990 children's tale Haroun And The Sea Of Stories.

Further details of the project are expected to be announced tomorrow in New York, where Rushdie now lives.

The book is set in India immediately after independence and its stage version will feature a cast of 20 British Asian actors.

It is based on a five-hour screenplay written by Rushdie for the BBC five years ago, which never made it to television because of India's last-minute refusal to allow filming on location.