Review: Arabian Nights at the New Vic

Nov 23 2008 by Michael Green, Chester Chronicle

ARABIAN NIGHTS/New Vic Theatre, Newcastle-under-Lyme, until January 17

REVIEW/by Michael Green

THERE’S nothing wrong with a venue playing it safe at Christmas and staging a traditional panto but you have to take your hat off to a theatre which tries something a bit different at this time of year.

Well done, then, the New Vic for coming up with a production that manages to retain the kind of universal appeal of panto but has a premise that is far more challenging.

Story telling is at the absolute heart of Arabian Nights with its framing device of a cuckolded woman-hating king (George Eggay) who executes all his wives after their wedding night.

Brave Shahrazad (Amelia Donkor) offers herself as the king’s latest bride having come up with a plan to save the rest of the city’s single young women from the axe: she will captivate the king with her 1001 tales of magic, mystery and wonder.

The formidable task facing writer Dominic Cooke and director Paul Warwick is to convincingly depict stories which involve demons, treasure-filled caves, a woman turned into a horse, an evil sorceress.

Their solution is to keep things simple: for example, a troop of children carrying sheets which are grey on one side and gold and silver on the other depict the exterior and interior of the cave in Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.

They have also picked stories which are not immediately familiar such as The Little Beggar, The Envious Sisters and the flatulent Abu Hassan but arguably the most famous tale of them all, Aladdin, is absent.

An exuberant cast of nine take on all the roles (with the exception of the aforementioned supporting company of children) and the intimacy of theatre in the round which is part of the great New Vic experience helps one feel very much part of the action.