Spooky Action Theater, in association with Solas Nua, presents
HAKAWATIS: WOMEN OF THE ARABIAN NIGHTS by Hannah Khalil
With contributions from Hanan Al-Shaykh, Suhayla El- Bushra and Sara Shaarawi. Translations by Hassan Abdulrazzak
Directed by Mekala Sridhar
'Hakawati /hakəˈwɑːti/. Noun: Storyteller. From the Arabic terms hekaye meaning story and haki meaning to talk.
A tyrant avenges his wife’s infidelity by wedding, bedding and beheading a new bride every day. Years later, only five brides-in-waiting remain. These women are unapologetic, and united in their fight to keep themselves – and the whole of womankind – alive. They’ve got other ideas for their future, and it starts with a story. In this London Globe hit by Irish-Palestinian playwright Hannah Khalil, you’ll be captivated by tales that are funny, raunchy, and dangerous - and a matter of life and death.
Solas Nua produced a Play Reading of Hakawatis in 2024.
“That is the power of a good story – to seduce us out of our expectations.” —The Indiependent
When: September 24 – October 18, 2026, various showtimes
Where: Spooky Action Theater (located in Universalist National Memorial Church: 1810 16th St NW, Washington, DC)
Tickets: $50, available here | Pay What You Want tickets available
“FLUENT, WITTY AND GRACEFUL. Their [story] selection concentrates not on the derring-do of men, but on the rivalries, frustrations, passions and ingenuities of their own restricted lives.” —The Guardian
Hannah Khalil is an Irish-Palestinian playwright. She was writer in residence at the Globe 2022. In December 2022 her play Hakawatis played at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, while her adaptation of Hans Christian Anderson's The Fir Tree returned to the main stage at the Globe making Hannah the first writer other than Shakespeare to have had her work on in both spaces at the Globe simultaneously. Further work at the Globe includes an adaptation of Shakespeare and Fletcher's Henry VIII while A Museum in Baghdad played at the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2019/20 making Hannah the first woman of Arab heritage to have a main stage play at the company. Hannah was also a Creative Fellow of the Samuel Beckett Archive for 2021/2022 and was named Heimbold Chair of Irish Studies at Villanova University, Spring 2021. She was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2022.
