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Midnight's Children
- Tour & Scottish Premiere.
A new dramatization by Salman Rushdie, Simon Reade and Tim Supple based
on Rushdie's 1981 novel of the same name.
Playwright - Salman Rushdie
Director - Tim Supple
Designer, Choreographer and Video Director - Melly Still
Lighting Designer - Bruno Poet
Sound and Video Designer - John Leonard
Co-adapter and Dramaturg - Simon Reade
Video Designer - Jon Driscoll
Company - The Royal Shakespeare
Company in collaboration with the Universities of Michigan (Ann Arbor)
and Columbia. Midnight's Children's Website
Cast - here .
Venue - His Majesty's Theatre
Aberdeen 01224 641 122
Dates & Time - Tuesday 15 to Saturday 19 April 2003 at 7:30
pm
Rest of Tour Dates and Times - here . Includes
1 other Scottish date.
Seen to review at His Majesty's Theatre, Aberdeen .
Run time - 3 ½ hours with one interval of 20 minutes
Reviewer - David Arul
Spiced up by inimitable wit and insight.
Midnight's Children - RSC Production.
Zubin Varla as Saleem Sinai and
Sameena Zehra as Padma.
© Photograper Manuel Harlan. 2003.
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Anything that has the name Salman Rushdie attached to it will have its
fans and its detractors. This first dramatisation of his second novel
- "Midnight's Children" (published 1981) lives well up to its
billing.
Midnight's Children is a series of reflections by the 32-year-old Saleem,
Zubin Varla, as he struggles to narrate his life story to his wife
Padma, Sameena Zehra. The story starts in 1915, at the time of
the Amritsar massacre and the journey of his grandparents from Kashmir
to Bombay. It ends soon after the disintegration of Pakistan and the formation
of Bangaladesh.
The ingeniously devised production has minimal changes of stage settings
yet shows a wide variety of locations. This is achieved by mixing video
footages of real events with very quick changes of some 200 varied and
colourful costumes by the cast, and includes music from Bollywood and
various traditions. Apart from 5 main characters, the remaining ensemble
of just 15 actors play the rest of the 100 or so roles.
Saleem says at the end of his recollection "all the six hundred
million eggs which gave birth to the population of India could fit inside
a single standard-sized pickle jar". This is indeed a chutnification
of a brief history of India. All the major events are diced and spiced
up by the inimitable wit and insight of Salman Rushdie and bottled into
a space of just over three hours.
The Royal Shakespeare Company certainly does justice to this condensing.
The production richly transports us through the drama and theatre of the
script to the sub-continent's turbulent recent history.
© David Arul. - Published on EdinburghGuide.com
The music in the show includes pieces from the 'Rough Guide to India'
CD, Bollywood soundtracks from the 1950s and 1960s including The Kings
and Queens of Bollywood and Mangala and the Bangladeshi National Anthem.
Cast:
Mian Abdullah, Hanif and Ayooba - Ravi Aujla
Tai, Lifafa Das and Deshmukh - Antony Bunsee
Joe d'Costa, Shaheed and the Thin Man - Pushpinder Chani
Narliker, Ghani, Sabarmati, Sonny and C in C - Kammy Darweish
Amina - Meneka Das.
Bose, Nadir, Zia and Najmuddin - Neil D'Souza
Pia and Masha - Mala Ghedia
Dr Aadam Aziz and Picture Singh - Kulvinder Ghir
Jamila - Anjali Jay
Methwold and Zagallo - Alexi Kaye Campbell
Naseem and Lila - Shaheen Khan
Alia and Parvati - Syreeta Kumar
Homi Catrack, Glandy Keith and Farooq - Ranjit Krishnamma
Shiva - Selva Rasalingam
Emerald and Vanita - Tania Rodrigues
Mary Pereira and Rani of Cooch Naheen - Sirine Saba
Zulfikar, Wee Willie Winkie and Mujib - Kish Sharma
Saleem Sinai - Zubin Varla
Ahmed and the Fat Man - Antony Zaki
Padma - Sameena Zehra
Tour Details of RSC production of Midnight's
Children.
The play opened in London UK at Barbican, the RSC's London home, from
January 18 to February 23 2003 then touring
12 -16 March at Michigan USA Ann Arbor Power Center for the Performing
Arts
21 -30 March at New York USA Apollo Theatre in Harlem
Returned to Britain and tours to
15 April - 19 April at Aberdeen His
Majesty's Theatre 01224 641 122
22 April - 26 April at Nottingham The
Playhouse 0115 941 9419
29 April - 3 May at Birmingham
Repertory Theatre 0121 236 4455
6 May - 10 May at Bath Theatre
Royal 01225 448 844
13 May - 17 May at Leeds West Yorkshire
Playhouse 0113 213 7700
20 May - 24 May at Milton Keynes
Theatre 01908 606 090
27 May - 31 May at Norwich
Theatre Royal 01603 630 000
3 June - 7 June at Salford Quays The
Lowry 0161 876 2000
10 June - 14 June at Glasgow Kings
Theatre 0141 240 1111
Tour ends
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