Mozart, Shakespeare classics to be performed in Arabic at Al Ain festival

Three centuries after the Middle East's classic One Thousand and One Nights collection of folk tales was first translated for a European audience, the cultural wheel has turned full circle. Tomorrow evening, as part of the Al Ain Classics Festival, opera-lovers will be treated to a performance of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro - sung in Arabic. And on March 20, the festival presents Richard III: an Arabic Tragedy, an adaptation of the Shakespeare play commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company in Britain.
As well as helping to establish the growing reputation of Abu Dhabi as a significant cultural hub, these prestigious performances are evidence that the arts - even opera and theatre, in which language is crucial - know no national boundaries. Queen Scheherazade - not to mention Aladdin, Ali Baba and Sinbad the Sailor - would be very proud.