Inspired by Salman Rushdie's BBC screenplay
(dramatised in the late 1990s for the BBC, but never produced) and keen to
continue the RSC's policy of commissioning new versions of classical work
(such as Ted Hughes' Tales from Ovid, Aphra Behn's Oroonoko
and Shaw's Back to Methuselah) Adrian Noble commissioned an
adaptation of the stage play of the Rushdie story for the RSC.
In July 2001, Salman Rushdie, Tim Supple, and Simon Reade began work on a stage adaptation of Midnight's Children. Drawing on the BBC screenplay version of the novel, Reade and Supple superimposed their dramatisations of discrete scenes within the book. Together, the three men then shaped and refined the script, and Rushdie embellished specific scenes.
After six months of working on the adaptation, a working draft of a stage script was read through in workshops with leading actors in the UK.
The stage production of Midnight's Children not only relies on dialogue from the original novel, but on a cinematic language - with short scenes, short speeches, and sharp, quick edits moving from one scene to another. The soundtrack adds music and songs that take the audience from scene to scene and between the different narratives.
In July 2001, Salman Rushdie, Tim Supple, and Simon Reade began work on a stage adaptation of Midnight's Children. Drawing on the BBC screenplay version of the novel, Reade and Supple superimposed their dramatisations of discrete scenes within the book. Together, the three men then shaped and refined the script, and Rushdie embellished specific scenes.
After six months of working on the adaptation, a working draft of a stage script was read through in workshops with leading actors in the UK.
The stage production of Midnight's Children not only relies on dialogue from the original novel, but on a cinematic language - with short scenes, short speeches, and sharp, quick edits moving from one scene to another. The soundtrack adds music and songs that take the audience from scene to scene and between the different narratives.
Compiled and written by Leslie
Stainton, University Musical Society of the University of
Michigan.