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On a snowy January day, Year Eight were lucky enough to be going to Stratford-Upon-Avon, to see a production
of ‘Arabian Nights at the Courtyard Theatre. When we’d reached inside, we made our way up to the Gallery and
sat in our seats, all buzzing with excitement. We saw the bright stage below, lit up with small lights. We were all
looking forward to a great afternoon.
We enjoyed the prologue as it introduced how Shahrazad tells stories every night to King Shahrayer to save
herself from the fate that many other girls had suffered: death. Shahrazad and her sister were intelligent and witty
enough to outsmart their father and take control so that they could do what was right, even though their father
did not agree.
Most of you probably know the first story of “Ali Baba and the forty thieves”. The Royal Shakespeare Company
made the story exciting and adventurous as they played the parts extremely well. Perhaps different from other
performances, they used their bodies as the cave and part of their costumes to show gold. The actors and
actresses used the space tremendously, sometimes even using ladders to climb into the gallery or ‘up a tree’.
A part that we found particularly amusing was “The Story of the Little Beggar”. With his humorous comedy and
clever tricks, this story was definitely one you couldn’t take your eyes off! However, the most amusing scene
that no-one could stop talking about was when a replacement dummy of the little beggar came falling out of the
sky! This left the audience both thrilled and astonished.
We thought that the use of the golden puppet to act out “The Story of Es-Sindibad the Sailor” was a brilliant
idea. It was a nice variation from the actors, and the puppeteers were extremely skilful, portraying the delicate
movements that Es-Sindibad would have made perfectly. The giant bird was extraordinary – the way the actors
came together to make it looked fabulous. Overall, this story was superb.
Probably the most humorous story in Arabian Nights was “How Abu Hassan Broke Wind”. In this short story
they used a lot of good effects to show the main part of the story – Abu breaking wind! The clever use of
lighting created a more dramatic effect as the flashing lights created plenty of humour. The movements of the
costume, such as the coat lifting up, added to the effect as it looked very realistic. This story wasn’t as detailed as
the other stories though the fantastic humour made up for this.
The first story after the interval was “The Story of the Wife Who Wouldn’t Eat” and the reason for her poor
appetite was quite unexpected and shocking. The actress playing the wife was impressive as she showed very
different characteristics by day and by night. She also acted convincingly as a horse!
The final story told to us was “The Envious Sisters”. It was a dramatic story that featured two jealous sisters and
three courageous children. There were a lot of spectacular visual effects, such as a man on a carpet, being
lowered down from the ceiling. Also, they used lots of people to create the singing tree, where the actors sang in
harmonies plus a puppet for the singing bird. The actors also used stretchy black rubber to turn themselves into
statues which was scary! There were even magical effects such as moving props, including a rolling crystal ball.
We thought that this was one of the best stories.
After the play, it seemed the most popular stories performed were “The Little Beggar” and “How Abu Hasan
Broke Wind”. Both plays included humorous ideas and created a fantastic atmosphere in the theatre. Everyone
enjoyed the play, and thank you from Year Eight to the staff who arranged and took us on this exciting trip.
By 8X
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