Review: One Thousand and One Nights - Part One

Photo: Cylla von Tiedemann

By Jane Compton

One Thousand and One Nights, known as Alf Layla wa-Layla in Arabic, is currently playing to packed audiences in its European debut at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh. This epic six hour, two part dramatisation adapted from ancient Arabic manuscripts differs from The Arabian Nights – an anodyne version created by western translators which removed adult themes and added new stories and characters including Aladdin and Sinbad.

After killing his adulterous wife, King Shahrayar decides the only way to prevent a spouse’s infidelity is to marry a virgin each night and then behead her the following morning. Horrified that so many young women are dying, the young Shahrazad bravely volunteers to wed the king believing she can convince him to stop these executions.

Her strategy is to narrate stories each night that end on a cliff-hanger, meaning that if her husband wants to know more he will have to let her live for one more day. It is these folk tales, gathered from India, Persia and the Arab Empire that are brought to life on stage, touching upon just about every aspect of human behaviour.

Characters become enraged with fits of jealousy, surrender to lust, cower in fear, writhe in agony, torture others and self-mutilate, but at the heart of these stories there are valuable lessons to be learned. For example to importance of forgiveness and the need to show kindness to those around you, or the tale of The Three Apples that shows it is unwise to act rashly on the basis of flimsy insubstantial evidence.

The supernatural is a recurring theme and the fact that beings from parallel realms can interact with humans is universally accepted. Spirits also share similarities with mankind for instance the Jinni in The Persian Prince who is married with children yet keeps a mortal mistress.

Gender relations are also explored as women speak candidly about their enjoyment sex with graphic on stage portrayals of intercourse, most notably an orgy scene. The story of The Porter and the Three Ladies also makes it clear that a woman can live contentedly without a man in patriarchal society and even earn great wealth through her own business ventures.

Throughout this production, audiences receive unique glimpses of Arab culture from a bygone age which differs greatly from contemporary western perceptions. Director Tim Supple’s cast of nineteen men and women are surely among the hardest working actors at The Edinburgh International Festival this year. Selected following a rigorous audition process held in locations across the Arabic-speaking world, the actors fully immerse themselves into each role they play over the course of three hours with dialogue moving effortlessly between Arabic, French and English.

One Thousand and One Nights

Part One
Tuesday 23, Thursday 25 and Tuesday 30 August, 7pm
Sunday 21, Saturday 27, Sunday 28 and Wednesday 31 August, Friday 2 and Saturday 3 September, 2pm

Part Two
Sunday 21, Wednesday 24, Friday 26, Saturday 27, Sunday 28 and Wednesday 31 August, Thursday 1, Friday 2 and Saturday 3 September, 7pm

See both performances in one day on Sunday 21, Saturday 27, Sunday 28 and Wednesday 31 August, and Friday 2 and Saturday 3 September.

Book for both parts on any day in the same transaction and receive 10% off each ticket.

The Edinburgh International Festival runs from 12 August – 4 September. Browse and book online at eif.co.uk or call 0131 473 2000.

One Thousand and One Nights at Festival 2011

Photo: Matthew Andrews

By Jane Compton

One of the highlights of the Edinburgh International Festival this year is the European premiere of One Thousand and One Nights – or Alf Layla wa-Layla in Arabic – at the Royal Lyceum Theatre. After witnessing his wife in an orgy with slaves, the despotic King Shahrayar embarks upon a mission to marry a virgin each night then behead her in the morning before she has the chance to dishonour him. But the grim cycle of executions is temporarily halted when he takes Shahrazad as his bride.

Unwilling to accept the fate that has been dealt to many women before her, this strong and resourceful heroine relies upon her intellect to stay alive, regaling her husband with fascinating stories to retain his passive interest. She concludes her nightly narratives with the promise that the next story will be even better, persuading King Shahrayar to postpone her death for one more day.

Director Tim Supple’s ambitious goal to create a sumptuous stage version of this famous work from ancient Arabic literature was given the go-ahead in 2009 when Dash Arts, the production company he runs with Josephine Burton, secured a commission from Luminato, the multidisciplinary arts festival held annually in Toronto where the show received its world premiere in June. This funding enabled Supple to begin the considerable research and preparation required for what would eventually become an epic six-hour, multilingual dramatisation performed in two parts.

The dialogue is in Arabic, French and English to reflect that the tales were first translated from Arabic to French in 1704 and then into English two years later. Supple travelled extensively across the Middle East including Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon and Syria, holding workshops and auditions in major cities to find talented actors, musicians and dancers for his creative team. Rehearsals were moved from Egypt to Morocco following the start of the Egyptian uprising in January.

The historical origins of the Nights are obscure, but the tales are understood to be a living document in the sense that over the centuries numerous writers have contributed to a body of work that includes stories from India, Persia and across the great Arab empire. Supple had no interest in the sanitised western translations first produced in the eighteenth century which reinterpreted and reshaped the stories to make them suitable for children under the new guise of The Arabian Nights and which also added new stories from outside the Arabic version including The Seven Voyages of Sinbad and Aladdin and his Lamp.

Intent upon giving theatre audiences the opportunity to experience the deep and hidden riches of these classic tales as they appear in the oldest Arabic manuscripts, Supple called upon the translation skills of respected Lebanese novelist Hanan al-Shaykh to adapt 19 stories for the stage in a manner that reveals their sophistication and complexity. As Supple has said: “At their heart there’s a serious investigation into every aspect of social life: marriage, power, money, law, love, hate, parents and children. They’re graphic, startling, bleak, joyous and brutal, about sex, violence and human relations.”

One Thousand and One Nights

Part One
Tuesday 23, Thursday 25 and Tuesday 30 August, 7pm
Sunday 21, Saturday 27, Sunday 28 and Wednesday 31 August, Friday 2 and Saturday 3 September, 2pm

Part Two
Sunday 21, Wednesday 24, Friday 26, Saturday 27, Sunday 28 and Wednesday 31 August, Thursday 1, Friday 2 and Saturday 3 September, 7pm

**See both performances in one day on Sunday 21, Saturday 27, Sunday 28 and Wednesday 31 August, and Friday 2 and Saturday 3 September**

**Book for both parts on any day in the same transaction and receive 10% off each ticket**

The Edinburgh International Festival runs from 12 August – 4 September. Browse and book online at eif.co.uk or call 0131 473 2000.

This article has also been published on stv.tv which features reviews, previews and features from this year's Festival.

Review: King Lear

Photo: Dirk Bleicker

By Órla Murray

Royal Lyceum Theatre
Monday 15 August

Wu Hsing-kuo’s one man performance of King Lear is a profoundly different retelling of Shakespeare’s tragic play, proving that a simple, minimal set juxtaposed with a vivid soundscape is all that is needed to create an engaging and moving backdrop to a solo performance of epic proportions.

This distinctive production of Lear places the classic male eponymous role front and centre, illustrating how challenging the character of Lear is both physically and emotionally for the actor, whilst simultaneously playing up the egoism required to properly command the position.

Act One plays out the internal monologue and mental anguish suffered during Lear’s descent into madness, whilst mixing in the music, sounds and song of traditional Peking Opera style theatre that Wu himself is best known for. There are echoes of postmodernist literature sprinkled sparingly throughout the retelling whereby Wu allows himself - the actor - to speak and remark on his interaction with Lear. These moments between the audience and actor are brief and seem incidental, ensuring it does not feel heavy handed.

Wu manages to pull off an astonishing medley of character transformations in Act Two, when the performance appears to become an abstract extrapolation of Lear’s use of the royal “we” - all the characters are played by this unstoppable force of an actor. The intense emphasis on the eponymous Lear puts a new spin on the old tale, allowing us to feel the difference between Lear’s own tragedy and that of other characters in the story.

Wu is astonishingly nimble when leaping between characters as he tip-toes, stomps and prances about the stage, which allows him to both metaphorically and literally slip between roles. He moves effortlessly into physically demanding sequences of movement accompanied by haunting and atmospheric music. He contrasts almost farcical interpretations of the daughters Goneril and Regan and endearingly funny playings of the Fool and Edgar, with his serious, and unfortunately, brief moments as Edmund, Gloucester and Cordelia. Regardless of the characters though, the action is always either directed to Lear or is Lear.

Light and sound were effectively used to fill the stage, dwarfing the actor and emphasising his aloneness. This is particularly striking in the third and final act when Wu plays out the deaths of Cordelia and Lear with an emotional intensity that takes the audience by surprise. The last haunting visual we see is Lear carrying clothing in a pieta style representing dead Cordelia, just before he himself is lifted high off the stage with a single spotlight fading over his face.

Whilst the production was incredibly striking and deeply touching in parts, there was a distinct inaccessibility hanging over the reinterpretation. For those who are unacquainted with the twists and turns of Shakespeare’s King Lear, this production might not provide sufficient context or explanation to sufficiently engage and enthral as it does for those familiar with the original story. Regardless of this, however, the cultural and aesthetic elements are incredibly beautiful and absorbing, giving ample opportunity for even the most unenthused theatre-goer to find delight and wonder in this blend of Shakespeare and Peking Opera.

 If, indeed one is already a fan of such classical productions, then this is a challenging and ultimately rewarding addition to theatrical interpretations of Lear’s struggles, told in a way which allows the audience to feel the actor’s challenges and thus better understand the character’s profound loneliness. A visually pleasing and aurally distinct piece which showcases both the brilliance of Wu as an actor/writer/director and the distinct traditions of Far East Asia in all their theatrical glory.

King Lear
Contemporary Legend Theatre

13 – 16 August
Royal Lyceum Theatre

eif.co.uk/lear

The Edinburgh International Festival runs from 12 August – 4 September. Browse and book online at eif.co.uk or call 0131 473 2000.