Hakawatis: Women of the Arabian Nights

A Tamasha and Shakespeare’s Globe co-production

FIVE WOMEN, 1001 NIGHTS TO SURVIVE

‘Look at her – plucked and waxed and creamed and painted. Ready for battle. For the inevitable.’

Share in the unifying power of storytelling as ancient tales are reclaimed, rewritten and reimagined for Hakawatis: Women of the Arabian Nights in the candlelit Sam Wanamaker Playhouse at the Globe.
 
Hakawati /hakəˈwɑːti/. Noun: Storyteller. From the Arabic terms hekaye meaning story and haki meaning to talk. 
 
A tyrant revenges his wife’s infidelity by wedding, bedding and beheading a new bride every day. Years later, only five brides-in-waiting remain.  
 
These women are unapologetic, and united in their fight to keep themselves – and the whole of womankind – alive. They’ve got other ideas for their future, and it starts with a story… 
 
This fearless new play, a co-production with Shakespeare’s Globe, is directed by our Artistic Director, Pooja Ghai (LOTUS BEAUTY, Hampstead, LIONS AND TIGERS, Sam Wanamaker Playhouse) and written by Globe Resident Writer Hannah Khalil (THE FIR TREE, HENRY VIII, Globe), with contributions from Hanan al-Shaykh, Suhayla El-Bushra and Sara Shaarawi.

This production contains strong and sexual language, and themes of oppression and slavery.

IMAGE: Photography: Johan Persson. Art Direction: Irene Omodeo Zorini.