Colourful World Of “Arabian Nights”

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30443, 18 May 1964, Page 14

Colourful World Of “Arabian Nights”

Christchurch’s autumn evening must have seemed very cold and drab to the young audience emerging from the Children’s Theatre’s presentation of “Abousir and Aboukir,” from “Tales of the Arabian Nights,” at the Repertory Theatre on Saturday afternoon. For more than two hours, they had been transported to the fabulous East, with its glowing colours and bright sunlight. Against the yellow walls and harsh blue sky, fairy story characters, bejewelled and in all the colours of the rainbow, kept the audience, young and old, enthralled to the end. And the characters were as colourful as their clothes—Oman, who did not want to be shaved because his wife had tried to cut his throat that morning: the Judge, as blind as a bat and not quite sure what he was supposed to be judging: and Seraphim, who ran a juvenile “con” business on the Cairo waterfront. There was the Great Sultan, who ordered heads off with gay abandon and “everyone on the ground” when he appeared. He was ably backed in these activities by his beautiful little queen with such remarks as “His head would make a lovely tablelamp.” The guard, who had worked 10 days on end (with overtime), never quite decapitated anyone, but small hands were held over eyes each time he raised his flashing sword.

Aboukir the dyer, superbly played by John Harris, proved he was not quite evil to the core, just plain bad, and showed every prospect of living happily ever afterwards, to the obvious satisfaction of the audience.

Graham McCul.lock, as Abousir the barber, had a much more trying time being scrupulously honest, and came out no better, materially, anyhow. Some of the dialogue made the children a little restless: witty repartee was not as acceptable to them as the nicely executed slapstick scenes. Oman’s headlong dive into a cream cake, after a good kick from behind, was perhaps the highlight, and was greeted with an appropriate roar of appreciation.

The people in the market place, • as the programme called them, fitted as natur-. ally in the setting as colours in a pattern in a kaleidoscope. Bartering, chattering, or indifferent, they went their ways with complete ease,, never attracting attention from the central action. Dancing girls, a slave driver, vases of perfume, a snake charmer, turbans with gems as big as eggs—all conjured up an atmosphere which would have made Scheherezade, original teller of the tales of the Arabian Nights, truly proud. “Abousir and Aboukir,” directed by Nita Neale, the director of the Children’s Theatre, will be presented until May 23.