Output details

1001 Nights

This work revisits the classic Arabian Nights in light of current events in the Middle East. Here, tales from the original text gradually merge with other kinds of ‘narratives’: those currently circulated in Western media, and the never-ending stories spun by the crafty Shahrazad to preserve her life, start to function as the means for promoting a rather more destructive agenda.

1001 Nights addresses the problems associated with the incursion of new media into live performance. Current debate in this area is dominated by two opposing views: one arguing for a fundamental ontological difference between the live and the mediatised (e.g. Phelan, 1993), the other showing the shifting and historically-determined nature of our perception of what is ‘live’ (e.g. Auslander, 1999). This work points to a third way of framing the issue: we ‘read’ specific media as ‘live’ or not depending on how they are functioning semantically within a given work. This is consistent with the fact that any theatrical sign invested with symbolic value can be anything the author/director wants it to be (e.g. a broom can function as a horse). Thus, in the same way media can play whatever role in performance, ‘live’ or ‘re-production,’ irrespective of their actual nature.

The above point is demonstrated in 1001 Nights. The vocalist-actress is seen on stage operating a computer; the audience follows her actions relayed on a giant screen. The fact that such computer interactions are in fact simulations (pre-produced videos) becomes totally irrelevant for assessing their ‘live’ status: the actress’ interactions are intended to be read as synchronous with the time and place of their performance, and that’s all that matters here. This discovery suggests the possibility for an author to manipulate the relationship between live and mediatised elements in a given work to achieve specific dramaturgical results.