The Arabian Nights/Dreaded Tourmaline at the Lookingglass

The Arabian Nights

Dreaded Tourmaline went to Chicago. I saw a great production of  Lookingglass Theater Company:  THE ARABIAN NIGHTS, written and directed by ensemble member, Mary Zimmerman. The play was adapted from THE BOOK OF THE THOUSAND NIGHTS and ONE NIGHT translated by Powys Mathers. 

The script follows the outline of the well-known, traditional story. The production is good -- great even, though it is flawed, over-long and repetitious. A half hour of running time could certainly be trimmed off the first act. I would swear I heard the exact story more than once and my knees started to squeal before intermission. Intermission was humorously, cleverly introduced by Dunyazade, sister of Scheherezade. Louise Lamson does a creditable job of portraying the beautiful and smart Scheherezade, but her performance lacks emotional fire. One never actually fears that she will be harmed. In fact the only empathy that is elicited is for her poor father who must come each morning with her shroud in case she hasn't managed to distract the King from his murderous campaign. Though his face is not visible, the father's dejected posture is heartbreaking. The costumes were superb. They were eye-candy in the best sense of the term. They were a visual delight that advanced the story. The set begins as a large naked area covered with what seem like painter's cloths. The ensemble enters to live drumming and sings and removes the cloths revealing arabic rugs and pillows. The play likewise unfolds and is revealed and builds and rearranges. The production's strength is the solid ensemble of the players. Individual performances don't emerge from the whole as each player portrays several parts. Allen Gilmore is memorable, however, as Scheherezade's father. The music and musicians are excellent. Actually the ensemble are the instrumentalists and singers as well as dancers -- a talented group. They cooked on the traditional looking Middle Eastern percussion instruments. The climax is the traditional one: the King grows to love Scheherezade and nights are alight and there is no fear. The production tidies itself with drawing us to consider what our government is doing to the nights over Baghdad today. This is a play well worth seeing though a little less might be a better thing. 

The performance is held in a Chicago landmark The Water Tower Water Works.  http://www.aviewoncities.com/chicago/watertower.htm  Lookingglass is a multi-disciplined collective and they are a brilliant bunch -- a lovely, energetic, diverse ensemble.

Dreaded Tourmaline finished the evening face down in a hot fudge sundae sort of diagonally across from the WTWW in a Ghirardelli ice cream parlor -- great spot for people-watching.