ONE of the great novels of the 20th century, A Passage To India will be brought to life on stage by award-winning ensemble simple8 at Salisbury Playhouse.

The production runs in the Main House from January 22 to 27 as part of a UK tour.

The question of how can we love each other in a world divided by race, power and religion is at the heart of A Passage to India.

With their fresh, new adaptation of EM Forster’s masterpiece, simple8 finds in the past a mirror for our own divided times.

Multi award-winning simple8 takes a new approach to Forster’s masterpiece that transports audiences to British India and conjures up its elephants and caves, courthouses and temples.

A Passage to India is adapted and co-directed by Simon Dormandy, whose recent work includes co-directing his own adaptation of the Coen Brothers film The Hudsucker Proxy (Nuffield, Southampton and Liverpool Playhouse), and directing Julius Caesar (Bristol Old Vic), Luce (Southwark Playhouse) and Waiting for Godot (Arcola Theatre).

Original music is composed and performed live by Kuljit Bhamra, one of the most prolific musicians, composers and producers on the British Asian music scene, having composed and produced more than 2,000 songs and worked on film scores including Bend it Like Beckham. On stage, Kuljit has appeared in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Bombay Dreams (Apollo Victoria Theatre) and Bend it Like Beckham (Phoenix Theate) which he also co-orchestrated. He holds an MBE for his services to Bhangra and British Asian music.

The cast features Maanuv Thiara (Hamlet, West End) as Mahmoud Ali, Liz Crowther (The Witch of Edmonton, RSC) as Mrs Moore/Ralph, Matthew Douglas (An Inspector Calls, West End) as Callendar, Christopher Doyle (The Playboy of the Western World, Old Vic) as McBryde, Hannah Emanuel (The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, Arcola Theatre) as Mrs Callendar/Stella, Tibu Fortes (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Globe Theatre) as Hamidullah, Richard Goulding (King Charles III, Almeida, West End and Broadway) as Fielding, Nigel Hastings (Henry VI, Globe Theatre) as Turton, Asif Khan (Handbagged, UK Tour) as Aziz, Edward Killingback (Hay Fever, West End) as Ronny, Ranjit Krishnamma (Behind the Beautiful Forevers, National Theatre) as Godbole/Das and Phoebe Pryce (The Tempest, Globe Theatre) as Adela.

Music is performed live by Kuljit Bhamra and Asha McCarthy.

Tickets are on sale now and can be booked by calling 01722 320333 or visiting salisburyplayhouse.com.