Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – “The One Thousand and One Nights” and its huge potential for inspiring seductive theater

• By drediman
• April 30, 2018
• No Comments

Caitlin Nasema Cassidy and Anthony Vaughn Merchant in Target Margin’s “Pay No Attention to the Girl”.

There were recently a couple of Off-Broadway productions that continued to explore the theatrical possibilities of the Arabic myth “The One Thousand and One Nights” – Target Margin’s experimental homage Pay No Attention to the Girl and Prospect Theater Company’s new musical One Thousand Nights and One Day (both have recently ended their runs).

It’s no wonder why theater-makers have returned repeatedly to the incredibly rich, cliff-hanging tales told by Scheherazade to the sultan well into the night to keep herself from being executed – at least for one more day. The myth has inspired a legendary, now-kitschy ballet by Michel Fokine for the Ballets Russes – which featured an iconic, thrillingly dramatic score by Rimsky-Korsakov – as well as some excellent stage adaptations, most notably Mary Zimmerman’s alluring and vital Arabian Nights, which was first staged at Chicago’s Lookingglass Theatre Company (I later saw the production again at Washington, DC’s Arena Stage).

Of the recent New York adaptations, I want to spend some time particularly with Target Margin’s Pay No Attention to the Girl (RECOMMENDED), which I thought was a fascinating – if not totally successful – theatrical exercise. The staging marked the theater company’s first show at the Doxsee, the company’s new warehouse performance space in Sunset Park. Like Ms. Zimmerman’s production, Pay No Attention realized the potential for seductive theater in the inwardly revealing Chinese Box structure of “The One Thousand and One Nights” (i.e., stories open up to stories, which open up to more stories, and so on), as well as its (refreshingly) morally ambivalent landscapes.

To this end, director David Herskovits and the adventurous folks at Target Margin have utilized every inch of their spacious new home to imagine various universes or planes of existence to conjure these interlocking, inwardly/outwardly opening worlds. Even if their curiosity sometimes got the better of young performers – indeed, some of the staging lacked discipline and focus – I applaud their interest in exploring use of space, toying with perspectives, and utilizing a playful Brechtian aesthetic with respect to “The One Thousand and One Nights”.

PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE GIRL
Off-Broadway, Play
Target Margin at the Doxsee
1 hour, 20 minutes (without an intermission)
Closed

ONE THOUSND NIGHTS AND ONE DAY
Off-Broadway, Musical
Prospect Theater Company at A.R.T
1 hour, 35 minutes (without an intermission)
Closed