WeRead Powered by ReaderPub
A Thousand Years Ago: A Romance of the Orient cover

A Thousand Years Ago: A Romance of the Orient

Chapter 6: SCENES
Open in WeRead

Explore more books like this:

About This Book

The play reimagines a Persian folktale as an ornamental stage romance set in an imperial court, where a proud princess issues lethal riddles to would-be suitors and a determined foreign prince accepts the challenge. Courtly ritual, harem scenes, and a wandering troupe of masked comedians intersect, producing comic improvisations, dreamlike sequences, and staged pageantry. Through contests of wit, disguise, and revelation, the drama explores theatricality, the tension between love and authority, and the power of storytelling and performance to transform rigid custom. Scenes alternate between public ceremonial spaces and intimate dream episodes, blending commedia dell'arte motifs with fairy-tale romance.

SCENES

Act I.
City Gate at Pekin.
Act II.
Scene 1: Room in the Imperial Harem.
Scene 2: Great Hall of the Emperor.
Act III.
Scene 1: Anteroom of Harem.
Scene 2: Calaf’s Bedchamber.
Act IV.
Great Hall of the Emperor.
[The same as Act II, Scene 2.]