A Tale
Well Told
Arabian Nights director Dominic Cooke
speaks to Saadeya Shamsuddin about
revisiting the ancient Eastern epic in a
How Abu Hassan
post 9/11 era and the need for more
Broke Wind, RSC
Arabian Nights.
Muslim playwrights.
The magic and power of storytelling lives on. Like Queen we were still really primitive, there was a very sophisticated,
Shahrazad who bewitched King Shahrayar, night after night very pluralistic civilisation operating in that part of the world
with her magical tales, the Royal Shakespeare Company’s much where these stories have come from,” he observes. “I was really
anticipated production of Arabian Nights combines all the ele- interested in going back to that idea, because it does mean some-
ments of an epic story that captivates its audience. thing different. There’s a line in Es-Sindibad (one of the tales in
Adapted and directed by Dominic Cooke, artistic director the play) ‘I return to Baghdad, City of Peace’ which is significant
of London’s Royal Court which recently swept the board at the in a time where a whole generation of children associate a lot of
prestigious Evening Standard Theatre Awards, the play features the Middle East with conflict.”
an ensemble cast of 18 actors, puppetry, song and dance to retell One Thousand and One Nights, as it is originally known, is
ancient stories of the East. Cooke originally staged the play a collection of folk tales from the Middle East and Asia between
at London’s Young Vic in 1998 and its success led to a UK tour the 9th and 15th centuries. Cooke adds, “These stories are derived
t
z
and shows in New York; however he feels the play holds a par- from the streets, they’re not official, and so the issues in them
u
rt
E
k
ticularly important resonance for audiences today. “It’s really are universal, such as ‘how do you live when you don’t have very
E
lli
interesting coming back to Arabian Nights now because the much?’” There is no one original author of the collection of sto-
o
N
/
last time we did it was in 2000. Post-9/11 the West’s relationship ries, but they were first compiled during the 14th century and
is
to Islam and Islamic culture and history has changed beyond different versions continued to be rewritten and recorded there-
A
t
t
h p
belief. Engaging with a text concerning the world of early Arab after. The popularity of the epic text, which contains myths and
E
i
t
society at this point in history is a very different feeling to 10 legends spanning countries from India and Iran to Egypt, and
y k
years ago; it’s more political,” he says, explaining why he decided genres from satire and comedy to romance and philosophy, soon
to revive the play 10 years after it was first staged. “Today, spread to Europe. It was dubbed ‘Arabian Nights’ in the 18th cen- r
A
p
h
y b
there’s a whole generation of kids who when they hear the word tury following an English translation from the original Arabic. t
og
‘Baghdad’ think of war. Many don’t know that whilst in Europe The tales are held together by the frame story of the Persian p
ho
38 emel magazine |
www.emel.com
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