Exotic allure

"Ge-clop, ge-clop, ge-clop." 40 thieves appear on horseback - well actually they don't, for this is a rehearsal of Creation Theatre's Christmas show Arabian Nights, and it would be a tight fit to get one horse into Headington Methodist Church Hall, never mind 40. "Open sesame!" cry the thieves, eager to get their hands on the "mountains and mountains of purses, bulging with gold and precious stones" that lie within, as yet, a non-existent cave.

"This move is quite complex," director Gari Jones calls out to his cast. "The whole audience must be able to see the gold." And that requires some ballet-type choreography, because the audience will be sitting all round the cast, in a tent.

To the relief of some, no doubt, Creation has decided to move out of the far from intimate factory space it occupied last Christmas, and back into the Mirror Tent, last used for the company's production of Comedy of Errors in 2005. As its name suggests, the tent contains ornately decorated mirrors in quantities normally seen only when Noyce's golden gallopers visit St Giles's Fair and Witney Feast each autumn. Only 11 such tents remain in existence: this particular one, named Idolize, was built in Belgium almost a century ago, and is reputed to have witnessed Marlene Dietrich singing Falling in Love Again during the 1930's. No doubt Miss Dietrich looked superb, reflected from every angle in all those mirrors.

The tent will provide an indoor location for actor Pepe Balderrama, who spent the summer out of doors at Oxford Castle, playing Gratiano in Creation's Merchant of Venice. As the rehearsal broke for lunch, he remembered one particular performance at the Castle.

"It was quite early on in the run, I think we were still doing previews. We had a torrential downpour, really serious rain. It started to fall just after the moment where I had a little solo song. We stopped the show for about ten minutes, basically anticipating that everyone would leave. But over half the audience wanted to stay, and so, unbelievably, we carried on. We were soaked to the skin, while the audience was sheltering under umbrellas, or huddling inside their kagools. I was staggered. I'm from Mexico originally, and it was the quintessential English expression of We've come to see the play, and we'll stay until it's finished.'"

Also joining me during their lunch break were actors Marina Abdeen and Nuria Benet, who represent quite a sizable proportion of the total cast: "We're all playing nine or ten different parts," Marina explained. "And we've got girls playing boys, and boys playing girls. We can snap, for instance, from being one of the 40 thieves, to playing the Princess."

But, apparently, that doesn't mean a lot of quick-fire costume changes.

"One of the things I like about this show is that we've all basically got one costume each," Nuria said. "It's not like panto, where you have to transform yourself. We have to become each different character by using just one prop. That's interesting, because you are not only forcing the audience to use its imagination, you are also using your body and voice to create each character. You don't need elaborate costumes when you are performing in the tent - it's so amazing and rich in itself. The designer said: I can't compete against that.'"

Because the audience will be sitting in a circle, the actors have got to be audible from every angle, even by people sitting behind them.

"That's incredibly difficult to do," said Pepe, laughing slightly nervously. "particularly in the early stages of rehearsal, there is so much going on, it's quite overwhelming. Then when you add the fact that the show is being performed in the round, plus the acoustic in the tent, it's far from ideal. It's a massive challenge, not only in terms of your acting ability, but also in terms of technique. Using your body and voice in a way which is going to radiate through 360 degrees. On the other hand, the tent has great personality and atmosphere. It's a fair enough trade-off."

As rehearsals progressed, I wondered if there were any lines in Arabian Nights that the cast were looking forward to delivering at each performance.

"There's one line I can't say without laughing," Pepe confessed. "In one of the stories, the queen has three children that were reportedly born as cats and dogs. But actually they are perfectly normal children who are sent down a river. The steward finds them and takes them home to his wife, who is a bit overburdened with these three children. But nonetheless the steward and his wife bring up the children as their own.

"He builds them a big house and they live there for six months. Then comes the sad and harrowing line: One day, he closed his eyes and he died'. And the supposedly dead steward gets up and walks off the stage. I haven't yet been able to say that line with a completely straight face."

No doubt that potential problem will be solved by director Gari Jones, who was responsible for Creation Theatre's Merchant of Venice this summer, a contemporary production that came complete with a rock and rap soundtrack.

"I don't think the purists will like my production," Gari predicted in an interview in The Oxford Times beforehand.

"The reason why I wanted to do Arabian Nights is because I have a real love of storytelling," Gari told me. "Obviously, every play involves storytelling, but this is a very pure, universal kind of storytelling. These stories are to do with the complexities of human beings, but the stories themselves are quite simple.

"There are hundreds and hundreds of stories that make up Arabian Nights but the version I've chosen to do actually only covers seven stories, and they've all been picked and geared towards a family, Christmas entertainment.

"There are goodies and baddies, lots of silly nonsense, it's all very, very playful. Also the audience is constantly being reminded that it is simply being told stories by a group of storytellers. And yes, there will be music, but it won't be Arctic Monkeys or Green Day!"

Arabian Nights runs from November 23 until January 13 in the Mirror Tent at the BMW Group Plant, Oxford. Box office 01865 766266 or online at www.creationtheatre.co.uk