A trilogy of contemporary plays inspired by tales from The Arabian Nights
The Casper Logue Affair by Sebastian Baczkiewicz: An absurd black comedy thriller, set in Baghdad. Junior diplomat Bob Goldacre is in trouble: the American businessman he was looking after has vanished from a Baghdad street. As the suspects pile up, Goldacre is going to have his work cut out if he wants to save his career and make sure that justice is done.
The Porter and the Three Ladies by Rachel Joyce: It is time for Shahrazad to tell another tale to save her life. In this story within a story, we find out that if Joe doesn't find the exclusive to satisfy his ruthless editor, he will lose his job. He finds three beautiful women in Damascus but what is the truth behind their secret life?
A Dish of Pomegranates by Peter Jukes: Shared roots and scattered families in the melting pot of modern Jerusalem. Tired after a stressful trip, Ajib is stopped by security officers as he tries to fly out of Ben Gurion airport on his way home to the U.S. They don't think his story adds up. Can he make them believe him? And does he actually know the whole story himself?
The Casper Logue Trilogy Written by Sebastian Baczkiewicz Directed and produced by Abigail le Fleming
Cast Shahrazad: Sirine Saba Shahrayar: Kevork Malikyan Aseera: Betsabeh Emran Rahim: Sargon Yelda Goldacre: Trevor White Hammond: Bruce Alexander Casper: Nathan Osgood Kindermann: Rufus Wright Carlton: John Biggins Charlene: Alison Pettit
The Porter and the Three Ladies Written by Rachel Joyce Directed by Tracey Neale Produced by Abigail le Fleming
Cast Shahrazad: Sirine Saba Shahrayar: Kevork Malikyan Joe: Stephen Tompkinson Margot: Joanna Monro Mira: Indira Varma Affyah: Jasmine Jones Juliba: Melissa Advani
A Dish of Pomegranates Written by Peter Jukes Directed by Mary Peate Produced by Abigail le Fleming
Cast Shahrazad: Sirine Saba Shahrayar / Vardan: Kevork Malikyan Ajib: William El-Gardi Orit: Betsabeh Emran Rafi: Zubin Varla Howard: Allan Corduner Julia: Keely Beresford Café Owner: Stefan Kalipha Tawfik / Trader 2: Mozaffar Shafeie Trader 1 / Flight Attendant: David Seddon Protestor: Rufus Wright
Originally broadcast in March 2010. ©2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd (P)2023 BBC Studios Distribution Ltd
Rachel Joyce is the author of the Sunday Times and international bestsellers The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Perfect, The Love Song of Miss Queenie Hennessy, Maureen Fry and the Angel of the North, The Music Shop, Miss Benson's Beetle, and a collection of interlinked short stories, A Snow Garden & Other Stories. Rachels books have been translated into thirty-seven languages and have sold millions of copies worldwide. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry was shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book Prize and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. The critically acclaimed film of the novel, for which Rachel also wrote the screenplay, was released in 2023. Miss Bensons Beetle won the Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize in 2021. Rachel was awarded the Specsavers National Book Awards New Writer of the Year in December 2012 and was shortlisted for the UK Author of the Year in 2014. In 2024 she was awarded an honorary doctorate by Kingston University. Rachel has written over twenty original afternoon plays and adaptations of the classics for BBC Radio 4. She lives with her family near Stroud.
Peter Jukes is a British writer and journalist. Through his TV appearances and regular columns on the Daily Beast website and in Newsweek he has become one of the UKs most authoritative commentators on the News International phone-hacking scandal and the Leveson Inquiry. He writes regularly for New Statesman, Prospect magazine and the Independent on the links between culture and politics and is a high-profile contributor to the US political blogs Daily Kos and Motley Moose. Jukes is also a dramatist for radio and television, whose credits include In Deep, Bad Faith, Waking the Dead and Sea of Souls. He lives in London.