FCA performance presents

Arabian Nights

Director: Tim Maddock
Assistant Director: Mark Rogers
Third Year Performance Students

Arabian Nights by acclaimed American playwright and director, Mary Zimmerman, is the retelling of one of the greatest epics of world literature - a celebration of the absorbing and exhilarating power of story telling.

Adapted from the extraordinary collection of folk tales and other stories known as the One Thousand and One Nights, the tales themselves trace their roots back to ancient and medieval Arabic, Persian, Indian, Egyptian and Mesopotamian folklore and literature.

Like its source, the play is built around the seductive narrative prowess of Scheherezade the bride of the caliph Shahryar, who having been cuckolded by his first wife, now beds and murders a different virgin every night. Scheherezade, as is famously known, postpones her execution by telling the caliph wonderful tales, stopping tantalisingly short of their conclusions, just before dawn. In order to hear the end of the story, the Caliph must leave Scheherezade alive for just one more night.

Incorporating live and improvised music, hand held lighting and a dynamic physicality, this production by FCA Performance students gives us an exhilarating view of the extraordinarily rich legacy of the land we now know as Iraq. The Arabian Nights will transport you from a king’s bedroom in Baghdad through markets, harems, courts and a crowded privy; from the heights of hilarity to sobering reflections on our shared humanity.

Writer Mary Zimmerman is the recipient of a 1998 MacArthur ”Genius” Grant, the 2002 Tony Award for Best Director and ten Joseph Jefferson Awards.

Director and Program Coordinator of FCA Performance, Tim Maddock has worked in the theatre for more than twenty years as a director, designer, actor and educator. Tim was a founding member of Adelaide's Red Shed Company eventually becoming Artistic Director, and a founding member of Brink Productions for whom he memorably directed Howard Barker’s The Ecstatic Bible. Most recently Tim directed Soldiers by Daniel Keene for Sydney Theatre Company.

Three nights only!

Season: Thursday 4 – Saturday 6 June 2009 @ 8PM
Venue: Backstage Hope Theatre, Building 40, University of Wollongong
Booking number: 02 4221 4889
Tickets: $15 full/ $10 Conc/ $5 FCA Student

http://www.uow.edu.au/crearts/performances/

To arrange an interview or photo opportunity, please contact Tanya Barton-Saad, 02 4221 5853 tanyab@uow.edu.au