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Overview

Synopsis

It is a well-known tale: King Shahryar, after finding his first wife in the arms of another, murders her and her lover. Left alone, the King decides to marry a new woman eight night -- only to kill her in the morning. That is, until Scheherezade courageously marries the King and begins telling a wondrous tale each evening and continuing through until dawn -- when she is supposed to be killed, except that the King always allows her to live in order to finish the next story. In this way, she suspends her death sentence for one thousand and one nights, and slowly heals King Shahryar’s broken heart, in the process.

This play is no ordinary production; a magical world is created by the actors and musicians. It is a space where stories unfold and magic happens. The scripts states, “The play is best suited to a thrust stage with the audience surrounding and looking down on the playing area. The setting is simultaneously the darkened chamber of Shahryar, where he sits listening to Scheherezade, and all of the various locations within the stories themselves... All of the performers remain in full view of the audience throughout the play, sitting or lying on pillows on the periphery of the playing space, rising to join the action as needed, adding a bit of costume as they take on a new role. Entrances and exits are not often indicated in the script; generally a character’s first line signals his or her arrival in the scene and the last line signals his or her departure. The action is continuous; scenes and locations overlap and dissolve into one another with no more indication than an actor turning in a new direction or perhaps a slight shift in the light, a new sound, or a bit of music. Scheherezade moves easily between narrating the stories and taking on small parts in them, and she may also shadow the various other narrators of the stories within stories. Once characters begin to tell their own stories, they address the audience and peripheral performers directly. The “frame” around the individual’s story may dissolve, but the overarching frame of Shahryar listening to Scheherezade and watching the tales unfold should never entirely disappear. The music and sound effects are played live.”

This is a non-traditional play and was originally a devised piece - meaning that it began with a group of actors rather than a formal script. As such, many of the characters appear for only a brief time, or are part of a story within the story of the play, or even a story within a story within the story of the play. There are sixteen actors total, although there are forty-six named characters. The smaller characters may be assigned to different actors depending on the needs of each production.The actors will need to choose how to portray each character in conjunction with the director, storyteller and the rest of the cast. Because of this, many of the character descriptions in this study guide are just that - descriptions, rather than analyses.

**Note: It should be noted that many, but not all, of of these characters could be played by actors of either gender.

Show Information

Category
Play
Age Guidance
Youth (Y)/General Audiences (G)
Number of Acts
1
First Produced
1992
Genres
Drama, Romance, Fairy Tale/Fantasy
Settings
Simple/No Set
Time & Place
middle east
Cast Size
large
Orchestra Size
Medium
Dancing
Some Dance
Licensor
Bret Adams, Ltd.
Ideal For
Mostly Male Cast, Includes Young Adult, Adult, Mature Adult, Late Teen, Early Teen Characters, Large Cast

Context


Plot


Characters

Name Part Size Gender Vocal Part

Dunyazade and others*

Lead

Female

Alto

Scheherezade

Lead

Female

Spoken

Harun al-Rashid and others*

Lead

Male

Spoken

Shahryar and Aziz (Mock Khalifah)*

Lead

Male

Spoken

Jester and others*

Supporting

Male

Spoken

Greengrocer and others*

Supporting

Male

Spoken

Ishak of Mosul and others*

Supporting

Male

Spoken

Madman and others*

Supporting

Male

Spoken

Butcher and others*

Supporting

Male

Spoken

Sympathy the Learned and others*

Supporting

Female

Spoken

Perfect Love and others*

Supporting

Female

Spoken

Boy and others*

Supporting

Male

Spoken

Clarinetist and others*

Supporting

Male

Spoken

Abu Al-Hasan and others*

Supporting

Male

Spoken

Pastrycook and others*

Supporting

Male

Spoken

Slave girl and others*

Supporting

Female

Spoken

Wazir

Featured

Male

Spoken

Chief of Keys

Featured

Male

Spoken

Jafar

Featured

Male

Spoken

Sheikh al-Islam

Featured

Male

Spoken

Prince of Fools

Featured

Male

Spoken

Jester's Wife

Featured

Female

Spoken

Man in the Dream

Featured

Male

Spoken

Chief of Police

Featured

Male

Spoken

Poor Man

Featured

Male

Spoken

Girl

Featured

Female

Spoken

Sheikh

Featured

Male

Spoken

Robber

Featured

Male

Spoken

Kurd

Featured

Either Gender

Spoken

Persian

Featured

Either Gender

Spoken

Kadi

Featured

Male

Spoken

First Sage

Featured

Male

Spoken

Second Sage

Featured

Male

Spoken

Third Sage

Featured

Male

Spoken

Old Boatman

Featured

Male

Spoken

Azizah

Featured

Female

Spoken

Other Woman

Featured

Female

Spoken

Aziz's Mother

Featured

Female

Spoken

Girl in the Garden

Featured

Female

Spoken

Sheikh al-Fadl

Featured

Male

Spoken

Fools

Ensemble

Either Gender

Spoken

Women by the River

Ensemble

Female

Spoken

Additional characters, to be played by members of the ensemble

Ensemble

Either Gender

Spoken

Songs

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A song with an asterisk (*) before the title indicates a dance number; a character listed in a song with an asterisk (*) by the character's name indicates that the character exclusively serves as a dancer in this song, which is sung by other characters.

Monologues

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Scenes

All scenes are the property and copyright of their owners. Scenes are presented on StageAgent for educational purposes only. If you would like to give a public performance of this scene, please obtain authorization from the appropriate licensor.

Key Terms

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Videos

Quizzes

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Themes, Symbols & Motifs

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Quote Analysis

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