‘Dinner with an Idiot’ brings superb comedy for capital audience
March 29, 2009
Islamabad
Like the bull-in-a-china shop comic possibilities, the humorous venture of Faheem Azam and Channel 7, ‘Dinner with an Idiot’, that opened at the National Library Auditorium on Friday, brings a superb comic farce for the capital audience.
Though the play is adapted from a French comedy, Faheem has successfully turned it into a completely Pakistani version by adding spicy and juicy syntax from local Urdu and blending with the prevailing popular spoken mode used by the younger generation.
Warming up the audience with a music break from Yazzi, in a performance more energetic than the actual song, the scene opens with Dawar Mahmood and Urwa tul Wusqua playing the roles of the music producer, Hasan, and wife Saba, going through their daily verbal brawl when comes in the group of ‘Idiots’. Mohsin Ejaz as Ashraf the singer, Shafqat Khan as the tax official, Farhatullah Babar as the forgetful doctor, Mahwash Kanwal as Kiran the ex-girlfriend, and Yazzi as the music man brought in fits of laughter with their superb performance. However, the director’s touch was clearly visible in covering up little deficiencies of the stage.
As per the title of the play, it was supposed to be action centred on food, however, the director once again covers it up beautifully by replacing it with ‘water’ instead of a dinner table in a kitchen, preparing a meal, or gobbling up the leftovers. The audience gets the intense feeling of thirst as Hasan, the music director, keeps asking for a glass of water all through the play and getting none till the end.
One can’t help but put in a word of appreciation for the talented cast. Dawar Mahmood was at his best, and one must also appreciate the great vocal talent of Mohsin Ejaz as one of the idiot, Ashraf. He is no doubt a great actor, but perhaps could become a much better singer. Though he got applause from the audience for his singing, the character demanded perhaps a little more ‘imperfect singing’ if he was portrayed as an idiot. A half broken, imperfect voice would have been more funny and appropriate for his role. However, the best and the most hilarious performance came from the taxman Shafqat Khan with some of his side-splitting deliveries and actions.
Though the director had to make do with his available resources in the absence of any sponsor, the play would go a long way in making Urdu theatre plays a regular feature in the capital only if the local audience responds in a proper way by buying tickets instead of fishing for passes.
Like the bull-in-a-china shop comic possibilities, the humorous venture of Faheem Azam and Channel 7, ‘Dinner with an Idiot’, that opened at the National Library Auditorium on Friday, brings a superb comic farce for the capital audience.
Though the play is adapted from a French comedy, Faheem has successfully turned it into a completely Pakistani version by adding spicy and juicy syntax from local Urdu and blending with the prevailing popular spoken mode used by the younger generation.
Warming up the audience with a music break from Yazzi, in a performance more energetic than the actual song, the scene opens with Dawar Mahmood and Urwa tul Wusqua playing the roles of the music producer, Hasan, and wife Saba, going through their daily verbal brawl when comes in the group of ‘Idiots’. Mohsin Ejaz as Ashraf the singer, Shafqat Khan as the tax official, Farhatullah Babar as the forgetful doctor, Mahwash Kanwal as Kiran the ex-girlfriend, and Yazzi as the music man brought in fits of laughter with their superb performance. However, the director’s touch was clearly visible in covering up little deficiencies of the stage.
As per the title of the play, it was supposed to be action centred on food, however, the director once again covers it up beautifully by replacing it with ‘water’ instead of a dinner table in a kitchen, preparing a meal, or gobbling up the leftovers. The audience gets the intense feeling of thirst as Hasan, the music director, keeps asking for a glass of water all through the play and getting none till the end.
One can’t help but put in a word of appreciation for the talented cast. Dawar Mahmood was at his best, and one must also appreciate the great vocal talent of Mohsin Ejaz as one of the idiot, Ashraf. He is no doubt a great actor, but perhaps could become a much better singer. Though he got applause from the audience for his singing, the character demanded perhaps a little more ‘imperfect singing’ if he was portrayed as an idiot. A half broken, imperfect voice would have been more funny and appropriate for his role. However, the best and the most hilarious performance came from the taxman Shafqat Khan with some of his side-splitting deliveries and actions.
Though the director had to make do with his available resources in the absence of any sponsor, the play would go a long way in making Urdu theatre plays a regular feature in the capital only if the local audience responds in a proper way by buying tickets instead of fishing for passes.
