Difference between revisions of "The Arabian Nights"

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''[[The Arabian Nights]]'' is the most popular English title for the Arabic collection of Middle Eastern folk tales called أَلْف لَيْلَة وَلَيْلَة‎‎ (pronounced "Alf layla wa-layla", and meaning "One Thousand and One Nights"), compiled during the Islamic Golden Age.  
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''[[The Arabian Nights]]'' is the most popular English title for the collection of Middle Eastern folk tales called أَلْف لَيْلَة وَلَيْلَة‎‎ in Arabic (pronounced "Alf layla wa-layla", and meaning "[[One Thousand and One Nights]]"), compiled during the Islamic Golden Age.  
  
 
=The original stories=
 
=The original stories=
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=== Performance history in South Africa ===
 
=== Performance history in South Africa ===
  
Apparently performed in the [[Exhibition Theatre]], Cape Town, by a company put together by a [[Mr Hisrchfield]] and the actor [[J.A. Rosier]] in June 1888.
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1888: Performed in the [[Exhibition Theatre]], Cape Town, by [[Hirshfield's Theatre Company]] as part of a repertoire that also included ''[[Sweet Lavender]]'' (Pinero), and ''[[In His Power]]'' (Quinton). The company included the actors  [[J.A. Rosier]], [[Albert Lucas]] and [[Joseph Ashman]].
  
 
=== Sources ===
 
=== Sources ===
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There are a number of dramatised versions of this story, by local and international authors.  
 
There are a number of dramatised versions of this story, by local and international authors.  
  
'''See ''Aladdin'''''
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'''See ''[[Aladdin]]'''''
  
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== ''[[An Arabian Night]]'' ==
  
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A South African play, devised and performed by [[Janice Honeyman]] and cast and based on Sir Richard Burton's English translation.
== ''An Arabian Night'' by [[Janice Honeyman]] and cast==
 
  
 
'''See ''[[An Arabian Night]]'''''
 
'''See ''[[An Arabian Night]]'''''
  
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==''[[Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves]]''==
  
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There are numerous of dramatised versions of this story, by local and international authors.
  
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'''See ''[[Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves]]'''''
  
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==''[[Sinbad the Sailor]]''==
  
==''[[Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves]]''==
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See '''''[[Sinbad the Sailor]]'''''.
  
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= Return to =
  
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Return to [[The South African Context/General Terminology and Thematic Entries]]
  
 
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Return to [[South African Theatre/Terminology and Thematic Entries]]
= Return to =
 
  
 
Return to [[PLAYS I: Original SA plays]]
 
Return to [[PLAYS I: Original SA plays]]

Latest revision as of 06:49, 3 July 2024

The Arabian Nights is the most popular English title for the collection of Middle Eastern folk tales called أَلْف لَيْلَة وَلَيْلَة‎‎ in Arabic (pronounced "Alf layla wa-layla", and meaning "One Thousand and One Nights"), compiled during the Islamic Golden Age.

The original stories

This title derives from the first English-language edition (1706), which rendered the title as The Arabian Nights' Entertainment, in turn based on the first European version (1704–1717) by Antoine Galland, called Les Mille et une nuits, contes arabes traduits en français ("Thousand and one nights, Arab stories translated into French"), and also containing additional material such as the popular stories of "Aladdin's Lamp", "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" and "The Seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor".

See further the entry in Wikipedia on One Thousand and One Nights[1].

Sources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Thousand_and_One_Nights

Go to ESAT Bibliography

Adaptations and translations

The stories from The Arabian Nights have been the source of many plays, dances, pantomimes, films and TV dramas over the years. What follows below is a list of titles for those that have made their way to South African stages and the local media. Where the entry is not discussed below, click on the appropriate title to go to the particular entry for more detail.

The Arabian Nights as the title of a play

The Arabian Nights by Hal Collier Edwards and F.H. Dudley

This was apparently a comedy , based on a German tragedy called Harun Alraschid by an unidentified author.

Performance history in South Africa

1888: Performed in the Exhibition Theatre, Cape Town, by Hirshfield's Theatre Company as part of a repertoire that also included Sweet Lavender (Pinero), and In His Power (Quinton). The company included the actors J.A. Rosier, Albert Lucas and Joseph Ashman.

Sources

D.C. Boonzaier. 1923. "My playgoing days – 30 years in the history of the Cape Town stage", in SA Review, 9 March and 24 August 1923. (Reprinted in Bosman 1980: pp. 374-439.)

F.C.L. Bosman. 1980. Drama en Toneel in Suid-Afrika, Deel II, 1856-1916. Pretoria: J.L. van Schaik: pp. 387.

Go to ESAT Bibliography

Other dramatized versions of the stories

Aladdin

There are a number of dramatised versions of this story, by local and international authors.

See Aladdin

An Arabian Night

A South African play, devised and performed by Janice Honeyman and cast and based on Sir Richard Burton's English translation.

See An Arabian Night

Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

There are numerous of dramatised versions of this story, by local and international authors.

See Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves

Sinbad the Sailor

See Sinbad the Sailor.

Return to

Return to The South African Context/General Terminology and Thematic Entries

Return to South African Theatre/Terminology and Thematic Entries

Return to PLAYS I: Original SA plays

Return to PLAYS II: Foreign plays

Return to PLAYS III: Collections

Return to PLAYS IV: Pageants and public performances

Return to South African Festivals and Competitions

Return to The ESAT Entries

Return to Main Page