Arabian Nights dazzle with colour

By Gary Smith
The Hamilton Spectator
(Nov 9, 2005)

Like to take a trip to a harem? Want to see the latest in slave girl bracelets and Baghdad pants?

Get thee to Waterdown then where Nikola Wojewoda-Patti and Rosalie Pypker are offering an exotic look at The Arabian Nights.

Patti, a graduate of the Ontario College of Art, is an artist of some repute. Her sculptures, paintings and mixed media installations have been shown to great acclaim in galleries from New York to London, England.

Pypker, a young student with an interest in art, just fell into the exotic world of stage fashion. After doing costumes for Shakespeare's The Tempest for a group, she wanted to branch out and try her hand at something exciting and different.

Together, these two talented and spirited women have created the dramatic world of Sheherezade and her 1001 nights.

When the lights come up on Village Theatre Waterdown's grand scale production of Mary Zimmerman's re-telling of these well-loved Arabian tales you can expect a wake-up call for your eyes.

Patti moved into set design because she was tired of the artist's solitary vision. "It was mostly about expanding my world. Theatre is such a collaborative art. I mean you are part of something more than yourself. That appeals to me for the way it forces you to look outside not just in."

"I love the challenge of taking a 17 by 20-foot space and making it kinetically functional.

"Because this particular play has narration that covers a number of stories it requires a kind of fluidity to allow one story to merge with another. I've created a picture frame to contain what happens. I've created the illusion of a Persian palace. I've used fabric panels to give the play an airy, open sort of feel. It's all a bit gossamer.

"This one's about sensuality. It's all rather simple, yet in many ways it's not. A forestage of a series of steps suggests sand dunes leading up to a palace. Amazingly, the whole thing is built out of cardboard. The effect, though, is of wealth through grand scale. And all of that in a tiny theatre."

Rosalie concurs. "This is essentially about two worlds colliding. My costumes are medieval with an Arabian twist. Of course with this period it's difficult to be accurate. When you study drawings and paintings of the era they are mostly done by Christians and they have a very European influence and air.

"I didn't want a sort of Las Vegas thing, You know the idea people have about belly dancing which is completely wrong for the art. Some of the clothes have been specially made. Other items have been rented from Theatre Aquarius and the University of Guelph. The trick there is to make things look like they go together. You can't afford to make everything from scratch."

Each of these designers works within a miniscule budget. That's not easy when a show needs to look exotic.

"You learn to work with what you have. You develop relationships with people and you get sponsors from within the community. You have to be resourceful, that's all," Patti says.

"There are 50 characters in all but not nearly that many actors. We decided to go with a basic costume for each one, then provide add-ons to give them a variety of necessary looks," Pypker says.

"I do this because I love it," Pypker confesses. "For me it's about having fun."

Patti looks bemused. "I'm not 17," she laughs. "It can't be about fun for me. Not anymore. I just have this need to be creative, that's all. Working with a group like this is an important way of gaining balance."

"Doing theatre allows me to explore my inner self," Patti says. "Of course it can bring out the best and worst in you. It's very stressful."