Arabian Night

Experimental theatre can either astound the audience with its inventive
touches or annoy them because of its pretentious approach. Arabian Night falls between both camps. Based in a run down high-rise block of flats in Germany, the audience are taken on a journey into the lives of five individuals whose lives cross on a hot, humid and eventful night.

Hans (Sam Cox) is the caretaker of the block, frantically trying to determine the cause of a sudden water shortage. Fatima (Stephanie Street) is preparing for the arrival of her boyfriend, Kalil (Akbar Kurtha). His motorbike’s outside but he’s nowhere to be seen. Franziska (Anna Hope) sleeps peacefully but, unbeknownst to her, a stranger is watching. What does he want and why does she dream of sheikhs, kidnappings and foreign climes?

Each actor displays excellent team skills here as they deliver monologues
that provide the audience with bits to the missing puzzle of a plot. As each
one speaks, we’re that bit nearer to finding out the truth. Street manages to persuade the audience that the end result will be worth the wait through her excellent use of body language.

Gordon Anderson directs with a real sense of urgency and a
style all his own. Unfortunately, the original touches and cleverness of this piece wear thin after about 40 minutes, and Anderson’s slick direction can’t disguise the fact that, although the actors are clearly having a ball, the script is running on emotional empty. I can’t recall many people in the audience laughing, nodding or displaying any feeling during the entire evening.

What begins as a challenging piece of new drama, quite unlike anything you’ve probably seen before, ends up as overly clever, alienating and off-putting.

– Glenn Meads (reviewed at Manchester’s Royal Exchange)