Arabian Nights

Published Friday 1 December 2006 at 11:40 by Andrew Blades

The Spiegeltent provides a stunning backdrop to this warm and engaging new version of 1001 Nights. From the outside it may look like a spaceship marooned in a car park but once within its confines, the sequins and cerises do a very thorough job of transporting the audience to Persia.

Not that this production sticks rigidly to a Middle Eastern geography - though all the most famous tales, from Ali Baba to Sinbad the Sailor, are present and correct, Creation draws on a panoply of presentational styles and contexts to emphasise the universal elements of Shahrazad’s fantastical narratives. There are cockney tailors and Mexican bandidos, Irish confidence tricksters and French chefs, and while some sail close to stereotype, there is a lot of skilled character acting and shrewd comic timing. Tom Edden is a particular delight in his multiple roles, elastic of face and voice and able to switch from solemn vizier to Dick Dastardly crook with the flick of a pocket knife. Miranda Nolan also gives one of the comic set-pieces of the night as the Little Beggar - her suicidal mime routine should get plenty of laughs.

Arabian Nights plays to Creation’s strengths. After some not entirely successful summer experiments, they’ve refreshed one of the most beautiful stories in literature by rediscovering the simple power of traditional narrative with a twist.