The 2004 Arden Theatre Production of Mary Zimmerman's The Arabian Nights captured the audience's mi

The production moves on and displays the character development of King Shahrayar, in which he moves from a vengeful killer to a man in love.  With each story told by Shahearezade, the king falls further in love, so much that he doesn’t realize that after one thousand and one nights, he has three children with her.  The stories blinded him so much that he couldn’t even see what was going on in the world around him.  This was also shown in the story of the Khalifah, where the actor who was playing King Shahrayar played a crazed man, symbolic of the craziness going on in Shahrayar’s head for this girl, Shahearezade, who changed his life forever.  While the actors did ad-lib in certain scenes, the stories portrayed on stage adhered to the book very closely. “The original stories have been told….and adapted into the play you are seeing today….” ( Nolen 7).  

In order to transform these stories for the modern audience to understand, the set must set the tone and imagination of the audience.  The stage was appropriately made from a dark wood with designs inlaid, representing much of what we think of as a palace floor.  Only two steps raised the stage up from ground level, which enabled the actors to use the area around the stage easily.  The lights hung from above, and looked much like lamps instead of visible stage lights.  The fact that the lights could be brought down onto the stage added some significant effects to certain scenes. The dimming of the lights and they’re movement in intense scenes created an interesting theater experience.  On the back of the stage were two boards which had small stairs leading backstage.  They included a fence like weave of wood, which resembled what looked like it could be part of a garden, as some of the scenes were in the garden.  

The seating for the play also played an important role in the feel the audience received from the actors.  Because people were able to be seating around the stage, the actors could not use any blind spots associated with normal stage seating to their advantage.  The actors had to look change their focus’ to be able to include the whole audience.  Being so close to the stage also transforms the play, because you can really see the facial expressions and hear the words clearly, where as in a big auditorium some movements could be lost from afar.  

Choosing the actors that fit the role of the character is essential to a great play.  It is important for the company to make the audience believe and envision that Shahrayar is a troubled king, and that he is falling into Shahearezades trap.  Without the right actors, the audience will never fully imagine the story that is being performed.  One thing that helps the audience believe is that King Shahrayar is played by a man who is not white.  If it was, the story would not be as good because it is widely know that the natives of the Middle East are not white.  We associated a darker looking person with all things Arabian, and so it is important that when the Arden theatre put on this production they give themselves the best chance to make us believe we are in this Arabian world of kings and gypsies.  

The costumes also play an important role in the audience’s imagination of the story.  The costumes help set the time table for the play as well as help describe the back round of the character.  Without the visual acceptance of the character, the audience cannot accept the story the character tells.  They were well engineered, with Velcro strips in place of buttons to further speed up the time it takes to change, since all actors played multiple characters.

In conclusion, The Arden Theatre put on a great show that was sexy, musical, and shocking as well as funny, artistic, and serious.  The lighting and set design all created an atmosphere which transformed the stage into many different cities of Persia.  The Theatre stuck to the stories in the book and created a masterpiece that makes the authors of these stories, whoever they are, proud.