Staging the Orient in Aladdin: London—Copenhagen

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis essay studies the uses in Romantic drama of the oriental tale and material from The Arabian Nights Entertainment at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Taking as an example the popular tale of Aladdin, I focus on two dramatic adaptions: the Aladdin play by the Danish writer Adam Oehlenschläger published in 1805, and the first British Aladdin written in 1788 by John O’Keeffe and adapted by Charles Farley for performance at Covent Garden in 1813. My comparative aims are, first, to explore how each adaptation tells different stories of the oriental other, and, second, to present specific answers to underlying questions about national identity. I argue that both plays concern identity and power, but whereas the British Aladdin toys with anxieties of imperial power, the Danish Aladdin is about the creative power of art.