1001 Nights, a play that will make you express your opinion loudly during the performance

1001 Nights at the UJ Arts Centre from 23 to 28 October 2023.

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor

We were placed in the mood and context of the production, by first our ears being titivated by clearly Eastern musical sounds by a DJ, and secondly, a fireworks performer whose tricks with the fireworks attracted eyes among the invited guests. This is as we enjoyed our refreshments and net-worked on the gardens of the UJ Arts & Culture at University of Johannesburg, enjoying some wine and food on Wednesday, October 25, 2023.

We were invited to the VIP opening of Ismail Mahomed’s new play, 1001 Nights. When I received the invited, I was actually intrigued by the name of the production, as this unusual name for a play, got me thinking about what was this all about. I had these thoughts till the time I arrived at UJ. But then in between the networking, the drinking and the eating, I had time to chat to Mahomed about the play. Just a little bit, for I did not want to spoil my impending experience of this production with an unusual name.

“No. This is not an old play. It is a new play, for which I was actually commissioned in September and completed it this October,” Mahomed explained in answer to my question. We left it at that. I was ready for 1001 Nights for the evening. And when time came to go into the theatre, we were told that we could go in. But then not really. This is because the ushers told us that actually the show was starting outside, right there on the gardens where only a few seconds ago we were enjoying our refreshments.

This is why I was wondering why was there a suitcase in the garden that remained unattended throughout the evening as we enjoyed our drinks. Suddenly the cast whipped out some costumes from the lone suitcase. Covered their faces and bodies. Suddenly we were face-to-face with Moslem women. Started dancing and invited members of the audience, who were clearly shy to join in as they danced. I kept on praying that they should not pick on me, for I would not know where to start. You see, I have not been exposed to any sort of Moslem dance in my life. In fact till that time, I did not even know that they actually dance, just like all of us. Besides, I guess dancing the Moslem way, should be different to say, dancing to jazz, something that I am quite familiar with.

However, after a few dance movies, the cast gestured for us to follow them right into The Willie Kgositsile Theatre. The cast did not waste time. They delved straight into the first scene of 1001 Nights. Two princes whose King father had just passed on, the older brother called Sharia and the younger one, whose name has just slipped me, decided they were going to divide the Kingdom into two. Sharing between them. Fair enough. But something in the personal life of the younger brother took place sooner after, which proved to be a tragedy that would unleash turmoil in the Kingdom. The younger brother found his wife in bed with a ‘’darker” skinned young man. All hell broke loose. He killed them both and jumped onto his horse, heading to his brother where he told him what had happened after much contemplation.

But as if that was not enough, the same scenario, well, more or less same sexual indiscretion soon hits the older brother King’s household. More hell broke loose. Sharia decides not only will he deflower and punish the virgins on his list of marriage, but his wife and two daughters were going to be killed too. There was clearly pandemonium, with the wife becoming desperate to save not only her daughter’s, but her life too. And by implication, the rest of the virgins who by that time, had not been killed. Three others were not that lucky as they were the first to be beheaded.

I will not spoilt you experience of watching 1001 Nights by giving you all the details, except to say, what follows from there is a combination of creative thinking and desperation by the mother figure in a bid, if not to save her daughters, at least delay what was inevitable. But I am sure by this time you are getting the drift about the name of the play. If not soonj you will. But back to the elaborate plan by the Queen mother to mitigate the tragedy that is about to befall the women of this Kingdom. She achieves that by entertaining the enraged Sharia by telling stories that grip his attention for as long as she can. It took several nights of not sleeping properly, telling these ridiculous, but highly hilarious stories.

I could not imagine how one person can tell such powerful, gripping and amazing stories for several nights and still be able to sustain the interest of Sharia in them, who genuinely at several points during this marathon narration, appeared to have forgotten about what he was about to do to these women. Talk about creativity being nurtured by a situation of stress.

The point however is this: As an audience, you get carried by these stories that are quite interesting, and just like Sharia, you tend to forget about the tragedy that the women are facing. This is a technique the writer has employed to create a play that is full of tension and humour to the extent that as audience members, we broke theatre protocol several times. We simply responded. Mostly our disapproval of certain actions by the characters. Some among the audience did not even wait till the end of the production as per theatre etiquette, to applaud.

What is notable in this play is the fact that the writer, and of course the director, Jade Powers, have managed to manifest on stage, a play that deals with religion, its its complexity, including its contradictions, as well as the hypocrisy some religious leaders often display in their practice, without however demeaning the religion itself. Through the ability of the writer to write a script that does not judge the religion itself, but the hypocrisy of some of the religious leaders within the religion, we were able to enjoy 1001 Nights, without being offended. I hope that those who follow this religion and attended the show also see it in the same way that I saw this production.

This is a production you need to attend, especially if you yearn to laugh and laugh very hard. You will find yourself doing a lot of that. You might even find yourself, just like the crowd I attended the opening with, breaking theatre etiquette by applauding and disapproving loudly during the performance.

.Experience the enchanting world of 1001 Nights at the UJ Arts Centre from 23 to 28 October 2023. Tickets, priced at R80 for registered students and R100 for general admission, are available on Plankton.

To do justice to this timeless work, Jade Bowers, has convened a cast of some of the best storytellers in the industry such as Dolly Louw, Musanete Sakupwanya, Ilse Klink, Sivuyise Kibido, Marcus Mabusela, and Katlego Nche. Matthew MacFarlane’s evocative compositions and Daniel Buckland’s artful choreography enrich the experience, with students from UJ Arts Academy adding their talents to the ensemble. UJ FADA Industrial Design students craft the stage, while UJ FADA Fashion Design students bring the costumes to life.