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Along the Silk Road follows the story of the famous Italian traveller and trader Marco Polo (Saman Khalaveh, left) whose travels along the Silk Road between 1276 and 1291 and his experiences at the court of the Mongol leader, Kublai Khan were recounted to Rustichello da Pisa with whom Polo shared a prison cell in Genoa - one of the scenes in the production. Da Pisa wrote down the stories in Old French and the subsequent book, ?The Travels of Marco Polo', did much to introduce Europeans to Central Asia and China. For over a thousand years the Silk Road was the most significant international trade route across the Afro-Eurasian landmass that connected East, South, and Western Asian with the Mediterranean and European worlds as well as parts of North and East Africa. Extending 5,000 miles the Silk Road gets its name from the lucrative Chinese silk trade along it. It brought goods and services, technology, religion and philosophy to many countries along the way and promoted the global exchange of art and culture.