A movable feast for the senses

Although the audience moves around quite a bit, the tales are linked by the narrator, Scheherazade (Jeremy Louise Eaton). She sets the stage for each story selected from “One Thousand and One Nights,’’ which she tells her king to help him recover from his wife’s betrayal and his conviction that no woman can be trusted. As the audience waits for the performance to begin out in a field of clover, grapes are offered from a bowl perched on a dancer’s head, a juggler performs, a woman swings from silks high above the crowd. As the king awakens in his bed, Scheherazade convinces her father, the Vizier (Carlos Uriona), that she can cure the king’s madness with the stories her father has taught her. Within moments, we are transported to the magical world of Aladdin and his Genie, Abdullah the fisherman and his Indigo Horse, Jullanar the sea princess, Sinbad the sailor, and many others.

Because this is Double Edge, the imagery, movement, and special effects are both thrilling and remarkably low-tech. Aladdin (Adam Bright) descends into the Cave of Wonders. The Genie (Hayley Brown) emerges from behind some vines. A merman appears out of a watery trunk. There’s also a hilarious magic carpet ride, a sea princess (Milena Dabova) who climbs out of a net, a tent that transforms effortlessly into the ocean’s waves, and a bird that helps Sinbad escape from a deserted island. Puppets are used creatively, especially in a scene in which Abdullah (Todd Trebour) travels to an undersea kingdom.

Several scenes contain images that mirror Chagall’s award-winning works, but the production never feels limited by them. The dominant color of a Chagall image is often reflected in a theatrical way: the blue of a horse, the greens of the sea, the reds of the desert, all adding up to an impressive visual impact. But “The Arabian Nights’’ also references other works, including the special effects of Ray Harryhausen’s classic films.

The most charming special effect is the magical Indigo Horse, which grows three times its original size and brings a young man to his true love. In the first scene, the horse appears as a toy, almost an afterthought, but as we follow the stories, the horse returns again and again, growing to the size of a hobby horse and then, in the climactic scene, a larger-than-life creature that appears to be flying through the trees. Double Edge’s combination of visual effects, music, and strong storytelling make “The Arabian Nights’’ a compelling theatrical experience for children and adults alike.