Creating the world of Arabian Nights | Designer Hannah Sibai

It’s been such a pleasure to design the set and costumes for Arabian Nights and to celebrate these stories from the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia and beyond.. 

 As the Designer, I work closely with the Director and rest of the creative team to craft the visual elements of the play. Our version is very contemporary, set in a fictional Kingdom ruled by a tyrannical King. A section of the King’s opulent palace takes centre stage, surrounded by windows that represent the built up houses and apartments of the poor and fearful citizens. 

In the play I was really struck by the motif of the townspeople lighting candles in their windows to show solidarity, hope and support for our ‘shero' Scheherazade. Taking that as inspiration our windows have cleverly controlled lights in them, illustrating the community’s hope and plight to ensure good triumphs over evil. The whole space can be transformed by the stories that Schere tells, showing the power of storytelling and imagination to transport us. 

I wanted to create a space that could enable quick scene changes between locations, as well as representing the three distinctive worlds of the play: The Kingdom, the Palace and the magical storytelling world. For the costumes I’ve created two separate colour palettes, one for the Palace and one for the citizens. Lots of attention has been paid to fabric choices and overall finishes, such as details like tailoring and trimmings for the Palace costumes, to how worn and distressed the costumes are for the townspeople. And watch out for the quick costume changes! 

A huge thank you to all the amazing team at Bristol Old Vic for bringing my designs to life. There are so many people that have worked incredibly hard behind the scenes to create this festive treat for you all. Just like in our story - it takes a team effort to make magic! Enjoy!