Midnight's Children comes alive Salman Rushdie's controversial novel on stage

Three actors of Indian origin will play key roles in the stage adaptation of India-born author Salman Rushdie's novel Midnight's Children by the London-based Royal Shakespeare Company.

Zubin Varla will play the lead Saleem Sinai, one of 1,001 children born at the stroke of midnight as India becomes independent on August 15, 1947, while Nina Wadia and Kulvinder Ghir (stars of the BBC's award-winning comedy show Goodness Gracious Me), have been chosen for key roles.

Varla, whose previous roles include Judas Iscariot in Jesus Christ, Superstar and Romeo in an RSC Romeo And Juliet, will lead an ensemble of 20 actors. The ensemble will have to manage a total of 60 characters, in itself a scaling down from more than 100 in the novel.

Nina Wadia, 33, whose last stage show was The Vagina Monologues, said: "Midnight's Children is a masterpiece, and I am very excited about being part of it. Five or ten years ago, it would have been a lot tougher for Asians to work for the RSC, but I am pleased that things are changing a bit."

The cast of the multi-million pound production will be mostly Asian and the dramatisation of Rushdie's Booker Prize-winning novel will provide many with their first opportunity to work with the world's most prestigious theatre company, according to The Observer Weekly.

The Royal Shakespeare Company has transformed the screenplay into a three-hour stage play, the world premiere of which will be held in London on January 18, 2003 and will then move to Michigan and the Apollo Theatre in Harlem, New York.

PTI