Everyone knows someone who has a real gift of the gab. Whether they're blagging their way into a private function or telling tall tales about the previous night's escapades, a good storyteller is a wonder to behold.

Imagine, then, having to rely on your storytelling prowess to save your own life.

This is the position the new Queen Sharazad finds herself in on the night of her wedding to King Shahrayar. Like the thousands of young brides before her, Sharazad is to be executed the day after the wedding.

To avoid this grim fate she devises a plan to keep her new husband distracted with her fabulous stories long enough to avoid the executioner's block.

It's not often you can go for a stroll and encounter giant beasts, talking birds, 40 thieves and a sailor called Sinbad. But this version of Arabian Nights is a promenade performance where the audience follows a character from place to place as different spectacular scenes unfold.

"Sharazad tells seven different stories in seven different locations in the gardens of Goodwood," says director Dale Rooks.

"You are guided by her and Shahrayar through each of the stories with a street band playing Arabic music with drums and percussion in between each scene."

This production is in stark contrast to the original performance at the Young Vic in 1999 where there was a cast of nine adult actors on stage.

Here, the cast consists of 65 performers whose ages range from ten to 19.

Some are first-time performers and there have been a few challenges to overcome.

"We had to work hard on setting the action in intimate places with the audience in a semi-circle or in the round so the voices project better," says Rooks.

"Many of the actors also play two parts - a king one minute and a ghoul the next - so they have had to be learning to play parts with different idiosyncrasies to give definition to each character."

"My favourite story changes from week to week. At the moment it's How Abu Hassan Broke Wind. When I first read the script I saw that the story was only one page long and thought 'How are we going to do that?'.

"But I was drawn to directing it because there can be different styles for each story - for the last scene, The Envious Sisters, we use Kabuki Japanese-style of theatre."

Last year's promenade production of Dr Faustus was immensely successful with all the tickets selling out in advance. So, if you fancy a walk on the wild side call the box office - you won't be able to blag your way into this one.

They've heard all the stories before.

Tickets cost £12/£6, call 01243 781312.