REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BEIRUT -- Instead of parables about princesses and genies, a new short play called "1,001 Titanics" has the legendary Scheherazade recounting tales of refugees making perilous sea journeys to reach safety in Europe.

If the story-telling Persian queen of "1,001 Nights" fame were alive today, "maybe she would have found herself in the first boat to Europe", said Palestinian-British director Mahmud al-Hurani.

The mostly-silent play, full of mime and puppets, opened in Beirut's Metro al-Madina theatre before moving to Palestinian and Syrian refugee camps around Lebanon.

With a population of four million in normal times, including hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, Lebanon is now also hosting 1.1 million refugees from the conflict in neighbouring Syria.