Mongooses and cobras. Exotic creatures and exotic lands. Costumes and color. These are all part of “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi,” a production brought to life by Iowa State students in the Fisher Theater courtyard on Saturday.

“The play has a cultural basis in that the story is about the Indian mongoose, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi and his peers and his surroundings,” said Shirley Dunlap, an assistant professor of theatre at ISU and director of the production.

From language to costumes to music, the play is deeply rooted in multiculturalism.

Each of the characters have different nationalities and have costumes as such, Dunlap said.

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, for example, is Indian. Darzi, the bird, has a Latin flair; Chuchandra, the muskrat, is West African; Nag and Nagaina, the cobras, are Egyptian; Teddy, the little boy, is Japanese.

The play even incorporates something few people correlate with culture — puppets. Curait, a baby snake, stars as the puppet.

The puppet theatre is based on burakuu, a style of Japanese theatre where the puppeteers are visible to the audience.

“It is another style of acting where the puppeteers’ spirit and interpretation of the character moves into actual characters,” Dunlap said.

“The puppets are put on long sticks and moved about, so it captures the whole effect.”

Dunlap said the costumes are very colorful and creative.

The colors were dyed into tricot fabric, a synthetic nylon material, and the masks were made of screening material to keep the actors from becoming too hot.

The masks are quite large measuring nearly two feet in diameter, and sit directly on the cast members’ shoulders, Dunlap said.

Coinciding with colorful costumes is the scenery, which was created by set designer and associate theatre professor Fritz Szabo.

“I was told I had to design a background set that could fit in a 15-passenger van filled with people, costumes, refreshments and all that good stuff,” Szabo said.

But even with the difficult restrictions, Szabo was able to put together a powerful background.

“The style is in reference to the exotic, lush paintings of Rousseau,” Szabo said. “It was put together in a bold, two-dimensional sort of way.”

The set was based on an actual Indian villa courtyard from the vantage point of small animals, Szabo said.

“We made use of color and form so that young children would not be frightened by it,” he said.

In line with the multicultural basis of the play, there had to be an appropriate grand finale as such to wrap up the colorful pageantry.

What to do for this final touch? What else, but the Macarena.

“Well,” Dunlap giggled, “we wanted to be able to teach the concept of different cultures and incorporate it through the finale of the Macarena. So we renamed it the Nagaina and do it at the end.”

With the composing talents of Kristina Schooler and the choreography instructing of Dashawn Sardine, Dunlap managed to do just that.

“The finale moves really nicely into each one of the cultures,” she said.

Dunlap said she is excited about the play and hopes other people will be as well.

“I think the whole spectacle and enjoyment of it before the hum-drum of school gives people a good reason to want to come,” she said.

“People can come laugh, dance and have fun. Adults really get a kick out of the story, as well as the spectacle of the setting.”

The production was originally produced by the Imaginary Theatre Company of the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis.

Saturday’s “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi” will start at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.