Play showcases future stars’ talent

LAHORE

Department of Theatre, Film & TV (TFT), School of Media & Mass Communication (SMC) of a private university is regularly organising various events and has brought forward famous Agatha Christie novel “And Then There Were None” showcasing the talent and potential of future stars.

According to a press release on Wednesday, for a play that went on for an hour and a half, ‘And Then There Were None’ managed to keep its audience captivated throughout, with more than enough moments to get reactions from the audience numerous times.

Ten strangers are invited to an island by a mysterious host, and start to get killed one by one. The play itself is based around 10 highly influential people of a city.

These very important people are gathered for a dinner party by a mystery host on an island, but things don’t end well for them. It is after they’ve eaten that each one of them is accused to committing murders in the past, they were never questioned then because they were powerful enough to escape the law. Stuff takes a turn for the worse, when each guest is killed one by one.

In terms of individual performances, Ms Jahan Ara Chughtai, Hafsah Haq, Waqar Ali, Hassan Raza were the one who were brilliant from Act 1, to Act 3. From the moment that Jahan Ara introduced herself as Vera Claythorne, there was not a soul in the audience that could find any remains who or what Jahan Ara Chughtai was. Every movement Hafsah Haq made as Dr Jessica Armstrong was just as calculated, as it was spontaneous, as she naturally glided through her monologues with her fellow actors, with doubt nowhere in sight.

A star was on the stage, and she demanded your attention. Loud, clear-cut vocals were delivered in a manner which actually showed the difference between how good Waqar Ali was, and how hard it was for his colleagues to keep up with him. Being loud and clear, yet not overdoing it is a huge part of theatre and Hassan Raza swept everyone in the hall off of their feet in this quite difficult scene.

Other honorable mentions included the performance of Saad Ayub, who made it seem like he was never going to be anything but Justice Wargrave again in his life, and delivered crisp, clear vocals throughout. Ms Mahnoor Lashari, who played Ms Rogers, Zain Irfan, who played Andeson, and Sadia Mohsin, who played Julia Marston were all consistent in their performances for all three days. All in all, And Then There Were None was a shot in the dark, and one that hit pretty close to the mark.

It was an innovative idea that the masses might not have been convinced about in the beginning, but with solidity in performance and the overall gelling of the actors on stage, it turned out to be an experience many won’t forget about anytime soon.