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Arabian Nights
12 September - 13 October
A young servant girl, Dunzayad is to marry the powerful king Shahryar. But this isn’t her husband-to-be’s first wedding – every single night he marries a new girl, and every single morning he has her killed.
As she steps up to take her marriage vows, her sister Sharazad can’t stand aside and watch; defiantly facing danger, she bravely sacrifices herself in place of her sibling. With the feast drawing to a close and the end in sight, Sharazad starts to tell stories. And with every fantastical tale she stretches out the thread of their lives a little further, slowly but surely melting her new husband’s stoney heart.
Filled to the brim with music, puppetry and dance, Arabian Nights is the world premiere of a new play by Nessah Muthy, writer of The Host and Heorine. Based on an ancient library of texts, One Thousand and One Nights, it is a celebration of the artistic and cultural history of the ancient Middle Eastern world with thousands of legends bounding across its pages.
Blending tales from ancient Arabic, Jewish, Greek, Indian, Persian and Turkish cultures together alongside a broad range of musical and puppeteering disciplines, this production stretched across both borders and genre in an evening of storytelling that wove a tapestry into the future.
Ticket Information
Tickets are available from our box office.
Tickets from £15.50.
Previews from £13.
Press Reviews
“Utterly absorbing” ★★★★ The Stage
“Has something for everyone” ★★★★ The Spy in the Stalls
“Admirably detailed… appealingly fun” ★★★★ Act Drop
“Beautifully presented” ★★★★ Fairy Powered Productions
Cast/Creatives
Pravessh Rana
King Shahryar, Thief Leader Harrun, Kalandar of Basra, Ape
Pravessh trained at LAMDA.
Credits whilst training include: Twelfth Night, The White Guard, Welcome To Thebes, Hedda Gabler, Romeo and Juliet and Three Day In The Country.
Film includes: Sann Pachattar (AAP Motion Pictures) and Saheb Biwi Aur Gangster.
Television includes: Emotional Atyachaar (Disney).
Maya Britto
Musician, Wife, Fisherwoman, Ali Baba's sister-in-law
Maya Britto is from Hackney and is of Japanese and Burmese heritage. She is a recent graduate from the Royal Academy of Music, training in musical theatre. Maya is very excited for Arabian Nights to mark her professional debut.
Ikky Elyas
Executioner, Kalandar, Brother-in-law, Captain
Ikky was born and bred in Hackney and is multilingual (Bengali & Arabic). He studied Psychology at university before joining the Hackney Showroom Young Actors Company in 2016.
Theatre credits include: Stay Happy Keep Smiling (Paines Plough); Red Pitch (Lyric Hammersmith); and Our Big Love Story (Rose Theatre).
Izzy Jones
Dunzayad, Marjeena, Young Queen
Izzy trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.
Theatre whilst training includes: The Boyfriend, Heathers and Jane Eyre.
Theatre credit include: If room enough, The Duck Pond and Le Bossu (withWings).
Izzy is thrilled to be joining Iris Theatre for this Arabian Nights adventure!
Sharon Singh
Sharazad, Ali Baba's Wife, Princess
Sharon Singh trained at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire where she was awarded the Sir John Gielgud Bursary Award.
Theatre credits include: The Game of Love and Chai (Tara Arts), Death of Kings and The Misanthrope (Conservatoire National Supérieur D’art Dramatique), Cyrano (Northern Broadsides), Three Sisters (Anonymous is A Woman), Hamlet (Shakespeare Peckham), The Misanthrope (Instant Mix), Titus Andronicus and Othello (Smooth Faced Gentlemen) and Holes (Jamie Hendry Productions).
TV & Film includes: Grace (Met Film Schoo), Nightlight (Kode), Love Bitten (Dan Allen Films), Parallel Lives (Smuggler), Doctors (BBC) and Vera (ITV).
Hemi Yeroham
Vizier Khalid, Hunchback, Ali Baba, Old Sinbad
Hemi was born in Istanbul and trained at the Guildford School of Acting.
Theatre credits include: Alice’s Adventures Underground (Waterloo Vaults), Romeo and Juliet (US Tour and Off Broadway), The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (US Tour and Off Broadway), Operation Magic Carpet (Polka Theatre), Arabian Nights (Tricycle Theatre), The Tempest and Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Cambridge Shakespeare Festival), 66 Minutes in Damascus (LIFT Festival & Sao Paolo Biennal, Brasil), Yo Valet! (New Diorama), Mathieu Kassovitz’s La Haine (Netherlands Tour), Cradle Will Rock (Arcola Theatre), Shadow Language (Theatre 503), The Container (site-specific regional tour), The Taming of the Shrew (Bridewell Theatre)
TV & Film includes: Benidorm (ITV), Tyrant (US, FX), Common People (Sky Atlantic), Closed Circuit (Working Title), Mamma Mia! (Universal).
Radio includes: Turnpike Lane (Urban Scrawl), The Long View, Ambridge Extra, Forgiving, The Cool Bag Baby and Poppyseeds (all for BBC).
#ArabianNights