University Theatre's production of Mary Zimmerman's ""Arabian Nights,"" continuing through the next two weekends in the Hemsley Theatre, is a crowd-pleasing delight. Under the direction of Norma Saldivar, and featuring many of the university's current MFA acting candidates, this is an epic series of tales retold in a setting that blurs modern and ancient times.
The colorful chiffon costumes, the arabesque floor designs and the ornate lamps dangling from the ceiling conjure up the Arabian palace of the original 1,001 nights, but the men who rappel down the wall to begin the play wear American army fatigues. This is the ""devising"" of Zimmerman, to incorporate modern-day elements into the ancient story of the vicious sultan Shahryar, who terrorizes and kills the women of his village nightly and the woman, Scheherezade, who uses storytelling to change his heart.
The political import of the play, written during the Gulf War, may or may not hit home, but the lavish entertainment of the tales is irresistible. The comic energy of the cast is dynamite in the lighter, first half of the play. Talish Barrow has scene-stealing pizzazz as a pastry cook and soldier; Jesse Michael Mothershed is hilarious as a cuckolded jester and Jafar; Clare Arena Haden shines as the heroic master storyteller Scheherezade; Leia Espericueta is alluring as the Perfect Love and others.
The cast is uniformly excellent in these rambunctious comedic scenes as well as the more serious, philosophical second half of the play, with the tales of Sympathy the Learned (Stephanie Monday) and of the Forgotten Melody. The transformative power of these tales enthralls the characters and the audience alike. This enjoyable night of theater is not to be missed.
