Mirror for Princes: Kalila Wa Dimna

New writing based on the fables Kalila wa Dimna

One of the masterpieces of Eastern culture. Intended originally as a book of Council for Kings, literally, a "mirror" for princes, these subtle and philosophical animal fables carry immense significance to all sections of Arab and Persian society, to this day. From India, via Persia, the tales reached the Arab world through the pen of Ibn Al-Muqaffa, court scribe, wit, and radical reformer.

The production locates Ibn Al-Muqaffa's work in its original historical context – Iraq circa 750 AD and the dawn of the Abbasid revolution – one of the most turbulent moments in Islamic history, and an age with all too many parallels to our own.

The Mirror for Princes opened at the Barbican in May 2006, in a production by Sulayman Al-Bassam Theatre.