For the past few months I’ve been working on my next show, SJAH (pronounced like “cat” in French, chat).  It premieres in just over 3 weeks *sweat*.  November 11, exactly *gulp*.  I’m very excited about it *puke*.  The show is bigger than any other I’ve done.  More people.  More organising.  More tickets to sell.  More money to lose.  More money to make.  More hair to go gray.

SJAH is the story of Scheheradaze’s king.  If you recall, Scheherazade was the woman who married the Persian king, Sharyar.  Sharyar didn’t trust women after his first wife betrayed him, so he went through the kingdom’s virgins, and one after another, having sex with them on the wedding night then killing them the next morning.  Out of fear that they too would betray him.

Charming.

By the time Scheherazade arrives on the scene he had already beheaded 1000 of his wives.  Scheherazade agreed to marry the king, but after “laying with him”, she begins to tell a story.  She saves her own neck each morning by promising to finish the story the following night.  She tells the stories of Aladdin, the genie, the flying carpet, the magic lamp, of Ali Baba, open sesame, Sinbad the sailor and many more – each more fantastical than the last.  She spins the tale for 1001 nights.

However, my version of SJAH is not a simple retelling of the tales.  SJAH focuses its attention on the back story- that of jealous king.

Sure, the archetypal characters from the Arabian Nights appear: I have four male dancers, one who plays the young Aladdin/Ali Babba-type character, another as the typical Genie, another as the evil magician, and of course, the sjah: the king.  These characters appear again and again in the Arabian Nights.

I should know – I’ve read all the stories.

Actually, that’s a lie.

I tried to read them but gave up.  The stories are so bogged down with Olde English translations, footnotes, and over description of every little bit of minutia that they defeated me.  I finally bought the books on iTunes and listened to them while I did other things.

I forgive myself.

The four dancers were selected from the Codarts dance academy in Rotterdam and the Amsterdam theatre school.  Each dancer brings a slightly different style – from classical ballet and modern to hip hop and street dance.  It’s a cool mix.

But the king has the central role.  He dances solo.  Displaying his strength, his anger, his bloodthirstiness, his vulnerability, his love, his complexity.

Of course the music plays a key part.  It is provided by a monster of a Turkish percussionist, Ruben van Rompaey.  He’s based in Rotterdam and plays darbuka plus may other instruments.  He’s recorded a number of albums of his own music and I’ve selected about eight of his pieces for the show.  He and his band will play in SJAH.  His music blows the mind.  Of course I’ll be doing some singing too.  I suppose you could say that I’ll be playing Scheherazade, but it’s not exactly true.  I’m not exactly BEING Scheherazade, but just the suggestion of her.  I’m more like another member of the band so I won’t have much interaction with the sjah, but I will be the only woman on stage.  A shadow of Scheherazade…

I’ve chosen to sing Middle Eastern lullabies.  I thought they would tie in well because the Arabian Nights were a sort of bedtime story meant to soothe the savage king.

So.

I’ll be singing in Turkish, Arabic and Lebanese.  Interesting.

I’m listening to them as I type this post – have a listen here.

So beautiful.  So little sleep considering I’m learning so many lullabies.  So effing challenging I might have to stab myself in the eye.

Pray for me.

The last show I did, The Snow Queen, was in a church and there were two performances.  This time, I have a real live theatre, the Korzo, where there will be three shows.  Tickets are already selling (thank GAWD) and we’re having rehearsals almost every day.  It has been a logistical nightmare to organise.

Speaking of nightmare, I actually had a dream with Freddy Kreuger in it the other night.
I looked at him.
He looked at me.
I said, “I should probably wake up now.”
He said, “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.”
And so I did.

Moving on.

Now that things are in full swing for SJAH, compared to The Snow Queen, and my first show, Sweet Solitude, I am quite calm.

I think I am getting the hang of this production thing.  I know what needs to be done.  I know what things cost.  I know who to talk to.  I know how to talk to them.

But I could only do it with a lot of help.

I have a business manager, Berend, who helped with the funding applications.  And who, through my observation of his behaviour, has taught me the subtleties of Dutch interaction and manners.

I have an amazing woman, Carolijn, doing my contracts and scheduling.  She is also local and great for making first contact with Dutch-speaking companies and people that I need for the production… before I sweep in and start making demands in my messy Nederlands.

I have an energetic woman, Elske, who runs an English theatre production company in Den Haag doing my promotion.

I have my sweet Adam who endures my rants about divas, technology, disorganised “organisers” and deals calmly with any and all things website-related.

And I have the crazy creative Zaddik Francis who is choreographing the show.  She’s already got me busy with show ideas for the next 3 years.  She is so full of ideas it scares me, but she also inspires me to keep going.

The more I do with OperaDans, the more I want to do.  The more I want to do, the more I realise I can’t do it alone.  And the more great people I have around me, the more thankful I am.

Bring it on, SJAH.  You don’t scare me.