OK. I admit it. I'm a sucker for those B-movie
clichés of the mysterious orient - dashing bandits and svelte houris,
idyllic oases and teeming souks, hawk-faced magicians, desert-defying caravans,
corrupt Grand Viziers, gorgeous palaces, and Ray Harryhausen special effects.
The whole scene is pure Turkish delight, and I wanted to create a pantomime
rich in this Technicolor Arabian Nights imagery, without rehashing the usual
suspects of Aladdin, Ali Baba, and Sinbad.
That's how The Arabian Knights
- The Panto! came about. An eastern concoction into which every conceivable
Arabian Nights cliché has been stirred, seasoned with a tiny twist of
alternative history, and all cunningly bound together in a traditional pantomime
recipe, featuring lots of familiar ingredients - not forgetting several opportunities
to add a dash of local flavour to your production.
As part of his fiendish plot to
defeat Richard the Lionheart, the evil Saladin sends his henchmen
on a magic carpet ride to Merrie England, to abduct Richard's Sweetheart, Thomasina.
But Saladin's bungling agents, Oshgosh and Babu, return instead
with Thomasina's irrepressible auntie, Dame Dollop, who quickly proves
that the wicked Caliph has bitten off rather more than he can chew!
Thomasina meanwhile, travelling
to join Richard's Crusade, encounters the dashing brigand, Hasan the Bandit.
Hasan, who is not quite what he seems, is no friend to Saladin, and together
with Thomasina, sets out to rescue Auntie!
With the help of an assortment of
genies, assassins, eunuchs, Turkish wrestlers, dancing girls and pantomime camels,
Dame Dollop escapes from the harem, to outwit Saladin, and allow Richard to
recapture the holy city of Jerusalem, and all in time for Christmas Day!
A hilarious, highly original, and
thoroughly entertaining pantomime, guaranteed to transport all involved to the
land of the Arabian Nights.
Cast: Principals M9 F3 M or F 2.
Extras and chorus: As many as you like, M or F, including dancers.
Click here
for characters in the play.
Provision is made in the script
for the inclusion of nine musical numbers, plus three dance routines. More musical
numbers could easily be incorporated.
Published and licenced for performance
by Samuel French Ltd.
ISBN: 0-573-16412-6
Best viewed on 1024x800
Pixel Screen Size