Last weekend — Nov. 29 through Dec. 2 — the Aquinas College Theatre Program dramatically performed The Arabian Nights, a play adapted by Mary Zimmerman from the popular novel.

The Arabian Nights tells the tale of King Shahryar embittered by his first wife’s betrayal who kills a new bride every night, until he marries Sheherezade.

In order to keep her life (and her head), Sheherezade tells the king a new story every night without finishing it so that the king is forced to keep her alive in order to find out the ending.

Over the course of 1,001 nights, Sheherezade heals the king with her stories and teaches him to love again.

The play featured a small, but versatile cast that proved to be competent in relating to the audience a variety of roles and stories.

Because of the unique nature of the piece, no one character has a larger influence on the performance, save perhaps for Shahryar and Sheherezade as curators and moderators.

The cast proved to be quite capable of adapting and communicating the personas of the tales.

Lasting nearly two and a half hours, the passing time was little noticed as the viewer was completely absorbed into the myriad tales of Sheherezade.

The set itself required the actors to be the sole communicators of the setting and mood of the performance.

An artfully done backdrop and platform remained in place during the entire performance.

Aided by little to no props, it was left to the cast to create the atmosphere of each different story.

Words and colorful actions created the context in which the characters found themselves. The constantly shifting and changing plotline demanded much of the actors.

Throughout it all, the actors remained focused and engaged completely on imparting their story.

The large amount of precision required for movement or spoken word became apparent. This was especially noticeable in scenes with large numbers of the cast on-stage.

At times, the cast would begin a chant that everyone performed in unison, even though many joined in at separate times or were performing completely different parts of the plot.

The Arabian Nights boasted a cast talented enough to transport the audience out of Aquinas College and across the ocean to the Arabian lands.

With no especially principle roles, no one actor outshone the rest, though all ended the show with laudable performances. The show was well worth the ticket price.