London: Like the original novel, the stage adaptation of India-born author Salman Rushdie's 'Midnight's Children' has turned out to be a resounding success, if audience reaction at the world premiere is any indicator.

Produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), one of the world's best-known theatre ensembles, the three-and-a-half hour play was staged before a packed audience at the Barbican Theatre in London On January 29 night.

It is an extraordinary and kaleidoscopic tale of modern India seen through the eyes of Saleem, who was born, like 1001 others, at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the moment of India's Independence from colonial rule.

Swapped at birth, his life becomes entwined with the destinies of the twin nations – Pakistan and India – and he becomes a symbol of his homeland.

In the stage version, Rushdie, who also wrote the script along with Simon Reade and Tim Supple, lampoons the shortcomings of both India and Pakistan, but it is the military bosses in Pakistan who become a target of joke.

The imposition of Emergency in India in 1975 and the excesses of that time, particularly the forced sterilisation programme has been severely criticised in the play.

This production was made possible due to a collaboration between the RSC, the Columbia University and the University of Michigan Musical Society.

PTI