POSTED: 16 JANUARY 2011

Arabian Nights, adapted by Dominic Cooke

New Theatre | Newtown, Sydney | Until 22 January

Shahryar, a cuckolded Middle Eastern king, exacts revenge on the female of the species by taking a new bride every day and having her executed the following dawn. Hardly, you’d think, an appropriate subject for children’s holiday entertainment.

But Arabian Nights provides New Theatre with a wonderful escape card in the form of Scheherazade, Shahryar’s umpteenth wife, whose storytelling skills manage to keep him hanging on — and execution hanging off — night after night after night.

And it’s those tales, played out with gusto and a hefty dose of slapstick by a dozen-strong cast, that distil the basis of a couple of hours excellent entertainment.

My count was seven tales in all — including Ali Baba and the 40 Thieves and Es-Sindibad the Sailor — and they were all well enough told to engage a young audience and keep their parents amused.

Large-scale puppetry, imaginative costuming, sharp comic acting and fine dancing add up to a well worthy theatrical afternoon or evening with the grandkids. Open Sesame!