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UBC Theatre's The Arabian Nights confirms the power of storytelling

UBC Theatre presents The Arabian Nights , until April 2 at the Frederic Wood Theatre at UBC. Tickets: $24.50/$16.50/$11.50 at ubctheatretickets.
arabian nights

UBC Theatre presents The Arabian Nights, until April 2 at the Frederic Wood Theatre at UBC. Tickets: $24.50/$16.50/$11.50 at ubctheatretickets.com

Aladdin and Sinbad are the more widely known stories from the book of tales One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of Middle Eastern and South Asian folklore compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age.

It's from these stories that Tony Award-winning theatre director and playwright, Mary Zimmerman, crafted her latest script, The Arabian Nights.

The play is being performed by UBC's intermediate and final year theatre students, and among the 16-person cast is North Vancouver's Parmiss Sehat. She plays the character of Dunyazade, sister to the main character, Scheherazade, who has married the mad King Shahryar. The king weds a bride at dawn and beheads her by dusk, but Scheherazade is able to prolong her stay in the kingdom by telling him stories.

"Through these stories, she's teaching him about all these things that he doesn't embody at the start of the play," explained Sehat. "She teaches him things like mercy and generosity and kindness, and it's interesting because the way Zimmerman has written it ... there's lots of framed stories throughout the play."

Set on a backdrop of rich blue hues and decadent brocade fabrics, the power of storytelling is demonstrated by taking the audience through a dramatic and playful adventure. Sehat poured her all into rehearsals, saying the play was a physically exhausting but fun experience to wrap up her time at UBC.

"It's going to be a very entertaining play, not to say that it doesn't have great messages or that you won't be able to take away anything from it, because it's riddled with morals. It's just a fun play to be a part of, as well as watch. It's got lots of singing and dancing."

Sehat said her character, described as a child in the text, is used as a ploy to delay her sister's death in many situations, but is also applied as a learning mechanism for the king in the nightly tales. The young character holds the next place in line for whom the king is to marry next, and represents purity and innocence throughout her time on stage.

"The king will even say, if you're going to tell an inappropriate story then maybe we should tell this little girl to get out of the room. And (Scheherazade) says no, you've got to keep her here because these stories may be licentious or lewd to those pure of mind, everything is pure," she said, impersonating the characters. She emphasized that oral storytelling is an important instrument of communication to focus on. Throughout her training, she has seen how her work in theatre can contribute to the impact a story can have.

"We hear and we tell stories when we're kids. As we grow older, and especially what this play is showing, is that that measure never loses its value. We can always be affected through stories," she said. "I think that it's an incredible example for theatre in general, and how it is useful."

Graduating in May, Sehat and her class are enjoying the atmosphere of their final year. She said the tone has changed and feels that the environment is more professional. The instructors have encouraged them to trust in their capabilities at this point, to ask fewer questions, and to conduct themselves as if they had been hired.

"I feel like that gives the actor a lot more room and responsibility, in a way, but in a really great way," she laughed.

Moving forward, the graduating class that Sehat is part of has formed their own startup theatre company called Gas Pedal Productions. They have already performed their original work of comedy at UBC, and will be taking it to the Vancouver Fringe Festival to showcase their fresh talent in September.