TALES FROM THE ARABIAN NIGHTS. To 22 January.

South

TALES FROM THE ARABIAN NIGHTS
adapted by David Haworth

Forest Forge theatre company Tour to 22 January 2005
Runs 2hr One interval
Review: Timothy Ramsden 13 December at Fontwell Magna Village Hall

A piece that provides what its audiences want.Forest Forge has clearly honed its shows to the audience it knows from village halls round Hampshire and neighbouring areas. This fluid account of various Arabian Nights has a versatile quartet of performers working on Karen McKeown's equally versatile set, with its doors and windows suddenly appearing within the limited playing area village halls permit.

Adapter David Haworth hasn't generally gone for the best-known tales indeed, he plays off expectations by having his helpful, put-upon Sinbad specifically not the one borne off by a bird. And the best-known story, Ali Baba, is presented in panto-format (Oh no! Oh, yes) which gives it a fair breeze, but points to the show's not weakness, but limitation.

There are moments of beauty - the curlicue shapes, the opened spaces bathed in moonlight. Or the simultaneous pomegranate tree and fountain Morag Cross suddenly creates. And moments of pure fun, (they might venture closer to rough humour than Haworth's polite direction usually permits) are rightly part of the mix.

But there can be too much reliance on devices like joking with, or questioning, the audience. And more seriously, a willingness to keep the language unpoetical (OK, that way it veers free from pretension too), and to avoid profounder elements of the stories.

Which is to say, it's more what the audience wanted than what I'd hoped for. Yet the finest versions of Scheherezade's myth such as Communicado's or Mike Kenny's script for NTC give a bigger idea why these tales have remained influential. And the framing plot here, while suitably romantic, is a simple line to the wedding-ring.

Within its scope, the production is enjoyable. Bibi Jacob can be radiantly lovely as Sheherezade winning over her husband or a jokey cartoon ruffian with beard and bared teeth. Morag Cross brings a speedy versatility to her role, while Chris Talman is affecting as the ever-sidelined Sinbad and transforms ingeniously into various characters.

With Christopher Tajah's authoritative King, this is worth anyone's walk or drive to the village hall. It's just that the ingredients are here, if the will went with them, for something more magical yet.

Sheherezade: Bibi Jacob
Dunyazade: Morag Cross
King of Sazan: Christopher Tajah
Sinbad: Chris Talman

Director: David Haworth
Designer: Karen McKeown
Composer/Musical Director: Ben Occhipinti

2004-12-15 01:01:48