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A man who juggles two wives and families… hasn’t that been done to death in theatre? Hold that thought until you watch Shah Sharabeel’s You Only Marry Twice. Sharabeel
Before we talk about the play, let’s draw a line first. There are two kinds of audiences in the world – those who appreciate below the belt jokes and those who don’t. YOMT is in no way for the latter because the jokes don’t always toe the line. Skip if you can tell it’s not your kind of play.
YOMT has been adapted from British writer Ray Cooney’s Caught In The Net; its Urdu production is inspired by the success of the KopyKats Productions. Hence this becomes Shah Sharahbeel’s first play in the national language after Bombay Dreams, Phantom of The Opera, Tom, Dick And Harry and Moulin Rouge, in addition to the first run of YOMT. The actors’ performance and the script was solid enough to remove any worries about this being a first for Sharabeel.
In comedy theatre, timing is key and the actors don’t let us down in YOMT. The play, by its simultaneous design, is tricky, for multiple things happen at the same time on the same stage, but shouldn’t disrupt each another.
The cast managed to pull it off without confusing the audience by making timely entries and exits; one must commend the Assistant Directors and Director for the smooth execution. Most dialogues strike the right chord with audience members; even if they don’t want to; they did end up laughing!
In the end, let’s talk about the strongest aspect of the play: its actors. Faizan Sheikh (Andhera Ujaala, Laakhon Main Teen) as Faisal Mirza is the star of the play; from the first scene to the last, he is literally the man of the house.
He has two wives who don’t know about the existence of the other and two kids who are oblivious to their half-siblings… until they meet online and fall in love! At times, Faizan’s acting reminds you of comedy king Kader Khan who used to bring the house down with his rapid-fire dialogue delivery and great timing with his co-stars.
The extremely good looking Maham Aamir and the talented Muzena Malik play the two Mrs. Faisal Mirzas who enact their roles well, though neither of them looks old enough to be the mother of a teenaged child. Their kids Aqsa Rizwan (Nida) and Ahmed Majeed (Zain) play the ‘in-love’ couple and keep their parents (all three of them) on their toes by going from one house to the other.
For once Aadi Adeel doesn’t overact; as Momi, he does his best to save his friend Faisal Mirza because only he knows the truth about the two wives. His energy is to be applauded because for most of the 90 minutes he is either here or there, meaning everywhere. His ’14 November Ki Raat’ routine is too good to be described in words; it just has to be experienced. Then there is Saqib Sumeer who as Momi’s Dad is hilarious in his short role as the blind man with a dirty mind and a multipurpose stick in hand. Enough said!
So what if YOMT ventures into vulgarity for the sake of comedy? Are we not living in the year 2015? If you don’t like humour that is crude, then don’t watch the play. Simple! The play runs at the Karachi Arts Council till April 19; so what if you can’t take your family– friends are always ready to go and laugh out loud, aren’t they?
Omair Alavi can be contacted at omair78gmail.com