MM Theater Blog

Within the first 2 minutes of Arena Stage's production of The Arabian Nights, the audience knows they are in for a real treat! Playwright/director Mary Zimmerman sets the stage for a lively, engaging theater experience as the actors enter and dress the stage to the beat of highly enthusiastic drums. With carpets unrolling, pillows flying, actors whooping, and excitement filling every corner of the Fichandler stage, the air is full of promise for a wonderful experience. And boy, does this play deliver!

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At the heart of every good theater experience is pure storytelling. So what could be better than a play about storytelling?! The Arabian Nights, adapted from "The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night", tells the story of Scheherezade - married to King Shahryar and destined to be murdered by him on her wedding night - who saves herself through her amazing gift of storytelling. She very cleverly brings her story to a crucial climax just at dawn, so the King has no choice but to extend her life one more day. The stories continue night after night, and as the King becomes more and more enthralled, so do we.

On the surface, this would appear to be a collection of short stories sewn together by a tiny thread. But Ms. Zimmerman, who is as clever as her heroine, carefully weaves together stories that are relevant to the situation at hand. And though each story on the surface appears to be very different, they bear messages of generosity, kindness, forgiveness, and love, and so begin to open the King's heart. There are several instances where the protagonists of the story are themselves storytellers. In fact there is even a story where each character pleads to the king to be pardoned based on the quality of their storytelling. And as we witness the unfolding of a play within a play within a play, we become fascinated with the beauty of the essence of theater!

One would think that stories of kings and jesters and thieves, from so many years ago in such faraway lands, would feel dated or be difficult to resonate with. However the themes of love, desire, betrayal, friendship, generosity, trickery, forgiveness, and trust are timeless! Many of the stories involve humor, and they all touch our hearts. They are happy, sad, lively, thoughtful, and engaging. They are life as we know it. The stories begin to take on a spiritual quality, and we find ourselves as mesmerized as the king!

The staging of this production also adds to the magic. All of the stories come alive as they are acted out in front of the king. This is the truest sense of the term "ensemble cast" that I have ever witnessed in the theater. Though it would appear that King Shahryar and Scheherezade are the lead roles, in fact each story has its own lead characters. All of the actors remain on stage throughout almost the entire production, taking turns at the various roles in each story. The "theater-in-the-round" nature of the Fichandler stage and the story-in-the-round nature of this play are a perfect match! The actors at times are playing lead roles, at times are playing background roles, and at times appear to be listening to the story along with the king and the audience. Even when one of the characters says, "Clear the room!", all of the actors merely retreat to the shadows of the stage.

Stacey Yen as Scherezade often shadows the characters of her stories by saying the lines along with them and performing their actions in unison. But there are times when she enters into the story and becomes one of the "extras". Even David Desantos (King Shahryar), who watches as the stories unfold before his eyes, himself plays a role in one of the most telling stories of all. And all of the acting is superb! They each handle their multiple roles beautifully. We truly get the sense that any of these actors could play any of the roles. Thus it seems that the stage is filled with hundreds or even thousands of characters.

In fact, there is one absolutely brilliant scene where the passage of time is conveyed through multiple stories all being told simultaneously. This scene goes on for several minutes, and is a pure tribute to the ability of the actors to focus and move quickly from one character to the next. As the actors are moving around the stage acting out various stories, we are even able to grab snippets of the stories, and realize that this is not just some theatrical gimmick filled with stage noise.

Daniel Ostling's set is simple and effective -- the aforementioned carpets, pillows, and other props lend themselves easily to set up the scenes for the various stories. There are various glass lamps hanging over different sections of the stage for added effect. Similarly, Mara Blumenfeld's costumes evoke the feeling of time and place, while being highly adaptable as the actors meld into other characters.

There are various songs and music sprinkled throughout. Credit the lively original music of André Pluess for adding to the energy of the play. The music is created with mostly percussion instruments, by a few musicians sprinkled throughout the stage. This integrated approach has the effect of making everything seem organic, as if the songs just spring up spontaneously. And the beautiful voices of the cast members shine with the simple instrumentation.

Over the course of time, King Shahryar begins to fall in love with his Queen. And after she tells the story of a very brilliant woman named Sympathy the Learned, he realizes that Scheherezade must be equally as brilliant, or even more brilliant than her heroine, because she is able to recount all of her cleverness as she tells the story. And much the same can be said for Mary Zimmerman. To put forth this material in such an engaging and uplifting manner, even if she is just recounting stories that have been passed down through the centuries, reveals the essence of true genius!

One of the themes in this play is that true art is divinely inspired, and meant to be shared. That certainly is the case for this production!

MM Rating - *****