A wholesome entertainment for children

While there may be a whole lot of groups/companies staging plays for the grown-ups with serious, philosophical themes, or even hilarious ones, there’s seldom been one for children that should serve as an entertainment for them and the grown-ups accompanying them.

The play we are going to talk about is Sindbad, staged at Napa (National Academy for Performing Arts) on Thursday evening. It was laughs, laughs all the way, but the most notable aspect of the production was the way children around 10, who formed at least 60 percent of the audience, were involved.

The play starts off with Sindbad (Kashef Khan), the Malika (Shabana Hassan) and Essa Khan on the stage and discussing their plans, which end in a really winsome musical number. The play is all about the travels and adventures of a daring sailor, Sindbad, who travels around the world, and, on his return, narrates his adventures and all about the places he visits to his people. The play is highly interactive as it involves the children among the audience at many a juncture.

Given the stories of his daring and chivalry, Sindbad wants the hand of the stunningly pretty young princess in marriage, but he has a rival in the person of Alcapone. So both set off in right earnest to win the princess over, while the princess displays her preference for Sindbad in no uncertain terms.  The two rivals set about their business of winning the princess over and the services of two supernatural entities (Jinns) are enlisted by both the suitors. Alcapone even asks the Jinn, Angloo, to make an end of Sindbad. Their antics make for a really hilarious situation.

Ultimately, as in all formula plays and movies, there’s a happy ending when one of the suitors, Alcapone, is put in a tight corner as the princess produces the ring that he tried to steal to prevent Sindbad from returning to the kingdom.  Alcapone has to eat the humble pie while Sindbad wins the hand of the princess in marriage.

The most notable thing about the production was the highly enlivening musical score by Arshad Mahmood. The number, Sindbad Ka Haathi, which forms the denouement of the play, was a really lively number, reflective of deft musical talent.

Uzma Sabeen’s astute direction left nothing to be desired. The two supernatural entities, Angloo and Bangloo, played respectively by  Hammad Khan and Faraz Chottani, added real vivacity to the play.

The most prominent part of the play was the way Tehreem Shafiq, as the princess, infused life into her role with her acting prowess, aided by her stunning, fresh good looks. Tehreem is a final-year student at Napa.

However, as they say, nothing is perfect and flaws are sure to creep into even the most astute of ventures. Having said that, it was a little disappointing to see the make-up of the Jinn, Angloo, which made him look more like a transgender person than a Jinn, but for a play extending into a seventy-minute duration, such a glitch is excusable. Hurry children and don’t miss the play. It goes on all the way up to the 17th of September!