Arabian Nights

The Arabian Nights is a timeless library of fantastical stories, woven into a rich, open tapestry. It is a celebration of the artistic and cultural history of both Islam and the wider ancient world, full of timeless heroes and villains. Ali Baba, Ala’ad-Din and Sinbad the Sailor swarm from its pages, among thousands of other legends.

Join Iris Theatre at the grandest wedding of the year. Opulent and colourful and filled to the brim with music, magic and dance. The smell of firecrackers fills the air, but underneath the festivities lies the strong scent of decay. The groom, King Shahryar is a tyrant and every single night he marries a new girl and every single morning he has her killed.

The cycle of violence has continued for years, but is to be brought to an end in the unlikeliest of ways and by the bravest of women. For with the executioner’s sword hanging over her neck, Sharazad starts to tell stories and with every fabulous tale she stretches out the thread of her life a little further, into an unknowable tapestry of the future.

In a new adaptation of the Arabian Nights by Nessah Muthy (Heroine, The Host), directed by Daniel Winder and designed by Amber Scarlett, Hoxton Hall becomes Shahrayar’s palace this autumn. Featuring a multitude of fantastic puppets designed by Jonny Dixon alongisde brand new music, Sharazad’s comic, tragic and earthy stories are brought to life at an evening of storytelling to melt the hardest of tyrant’s hearts.