Arabian Afternoons: The Casper Logue Affair
A darkly comic thriller by Sebastian Baczkiewicz, set in Baghdad. The first of three Arabian Afternoons - contemporary plays inspired by tales from The Arabian Nights.
Junior diplomat Bob Goldacre is in trouble: the American businessman he was looking after has vanished from a Baghdad street. As the suspects pile up, Goldacre is going to have his work cut out if he wants to save his career and make sure that justice is done.
Shahrazad.........SIRINE SABA
Shahrayar..........KEVORK MALIKYAN
Aseera..............BETSABEH EMRAN
Rahim...............SARGON YELDA
Goldacre...........TREVOR WHITE
Hammond.........BRUCE ALEXANDER
Casper..............NATHAN OSGOOD
Kindermann.......RUFUS WRIGHT
Carlton.............JOHN BIGGINS
Charlene...........ALISON PETTIT
Directed by Abigail le Fleming
The Story
The Casper Logue Affair is based on the story "The Hunchback", found in The Arabian Nights, which deals with the extraordinary events that take place after the death of the king's favourite fool.
The Writer
Sebastian Baczkiewicz is a radio writer of great range and experience. His work for Radio 4 includes 2000 Tales(an updating of the idea of The Canterbury Tales) and the New Metamorphoses (he wrote Semele). He also writes the series Pilgrim, based on the old myths and legends of Britain.
The Arabian Afternoons Series
A long time ago and far away, there was a king called Shahrayar. Betrayed in love himself, his custom was to enjoy his brides on their wedding night and then kill them at dawn. But one woman managed to survive, night after night, by telling the king stories. Her name was Shahrazad.
These three afternoon plays are framed by Shahrazad's voice as she describes rare and strange places for her husband, the murderous king. But these places are not the markets and deserts of medieval Arabia - with the help of some of our best radio writers, she conjures the Middle East of 2010, a landscape against which stories from the original 14th century "Thousand and One Nights" can breathe again.
The stakes are high: as each tale comes to a close, Shahrazad will learn whether it has earned her a night's reprieve. Each play is a tale within a tale - the stakes are also high for the storytellers Shahrazad introduces. Taken together, the plays reflect the humour, magic and savagery of the old tales.
The Other Plays in the Series
Tuesday 30 March 2010: The Porter and the Three Ladies
Written by Rachel Joyce
Directed by Tracey Neale
Shahrazad has one last night to tell a story before the King kills her in the morning. She chooses one about freedom: the adventures of an out of luck journalist, Joe, who has been sent by his ruthless editor to find the story that sells newspapers or he will lose his job. But what Joe discovers in Damascus are three beautiful women with a terrible secret.Can Joe win his job back with their story? And can Shahrazad win another night with Joe's? A wild, dark modern fairytale.
Shahrazad ...SIRINE SABA
Shahrayar...KEVORK MALIKYAN
Joe..............STEPHEN TOMPKINSON
Margot.........JOANNA MONRO
Mira.............INDIRA VARMA
Affyah..........JASMINE JONES
Juliba...........MELISSA ADVANI
"The Porter and the Three Ladies" is inspired by a tale of the same name in The Thousand and One Nights:
The three beautiful and mysterious women who take the porter in have only one rule: never ask us questions. He resists, but when disguised dignitaries and one-eyed dervishes arrive and break the rule, they are all imprisoned and can only buy their freedom with stories.
Wednesday 31 March 2010: A Dish of Pomegranates
Written by Peter Jukes
Directed by Mary Peate
Shared roots and scattered families in the melting pot of modern Jerusalem. Tired after a stressful trip, Ajib is stopped by security officers as he tries to fly out of Ben Gurion airport on his way home to the U.S. They don't think his story adds up. Can he make them believe him? And does he actually know the whole story himself?
Shahrazad.......................SIRINE SABA
Shahrayar/Vardan.............KEVORK MALIKYAN
Ajib.................................WILLIAM EL-GARDI
Orit..................................BETSABEH EMRAN
Rafi..................................ZUBIN VARLA
Howard.............................ALLAN CORDUNER
Julia.................................KEELY BERESFORD
Cafe Owner.......................STEFAN KALIPHA
Tawfik/Trader 2..................MOZAFFAR SHAFEIE
Flight Attendant/Trader 1....DAVID SEDDON
Protestor...........................RUFUS WRIGHT
A Dish of Pomegranates is loosely based on story "The Two Viziers":
Two brothers have a terrible argument and one leaves home forever. Years later and miles away, their grandson is magically drawn to his long-lost father through the power of a pomegranate dish only his father can make, and the family is reunited.
Replies
Thanks, Rick! As Always!! :)
Thanks for the text here as it enabled me to date the plays I had but forgot to label.
I love digging thru old posts. There is usually something very enjoyable that I have never heard before just waiting to be discovered. Thank you for sharing.