The Daily Campus

Issue date: 10/11/07 Section: Focus

Media Credit: Erik Kong A scene from "The Arabian Nights," a collectin of classic Persian stories brought to life on stage, running through October 14th at the Connecticut Repertory Theator.

Comedic, romantic, sensual, vivid and dramatic all describe the exhilarating theatrical experience that is "The Arabian Nights," the Connecticut Repertory Theater (CRT) play that imaginatively retells various tales from "The Book of the Tale of the Thousand Nights" which is a collection of classic and ancient Persian stories. The play opened to the general public on Oct. 5 and runs until October 14th in the confines of the Nafe Katter Theater at the Drama/Music Building.

The theater was packed with an eager audience.

"We're very proud of this year's season," said Gary English, head of the Department of Fine Arts and Artistic Director of CRT.

He also mentioned the variety of high caliber plays in which the Connecticut Repertory Theater will be presenting in its 2007-2008 season; some of which includes "Pentecost" and William Shakespeare's "Love's Labours Lost" as well as the special Jorgensen/Connecticut Repertory Theater production of "A Threepenny Opera."

"The Arabian Nights" was written by Mary Zimmerman, an affluent playwright, and is about an Arabian king who marries a virgin bride every night only to execute her in the morning. One of his brides, the stunning and cunning Scheherazade, tells him enchanting and enlightening stories every night in order to prevent her execution. The genres of the stories vary from revenge, love, comedy and tragedy all that contain certain morals and eventually makes the king have a change of heart from a madman to a good man with the black veil of hate lifted from his heart. The play contains a variety of different storytelling elements, including love poems, songs and even stories within stories just to name a few. According to the Director's notes, CRT's adaptation of the play hoped to enrich audiences with "a rich cultural heritage the Middle-East has shared with the world."

The play was an engrossing and intimate experience due to the proximity of the small, single set stage to the audience and the relatively small cast of actors who often play many roles; which makes the dedicated performances and unusual characters, vibrant costumes, and overall captivating and layered story even more enjoyable. The story even includes audience involvement when asked vote by clapping who was the most generous man of a story. An even more engaging and interesting aspect of the play is its use of songs and original Middle-Eastern music performed live by musicians within the play, which often drives the mood of certain scenes and acts like a character in the play.

The audience was engaged with the play throughout its duration; uproariously laughing at certain moments including the partially improvised "The Bag" story, in which two men fight over the contents of a bag, and were silenced in the heartbreak of such stories of love found and love lost like "Aziz and Aziza."

As the king in the play says about Scheherazade's stories, "The Arabian Nights" will certainly "fortify our souls with moral precepts" about how to learn use stories to survive, enjoy our lives and even teach life lessons to those who need it most.

The remaining performances of "The Arabian Nights" are Oct. 11 at 7:30 p.m., Oct. 12 to 13 at 8 p.m. and Oct. 14 at 2 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the Jorgensen Box Office or at Nafe Katter Theater Box Office one hour prior to show time.



Contact Natalie Abreu at

Natalie.Abreu@UConn.edu.

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