Folk tales take centre stage at PNCA festival

Islamabad :The weekend has been quite entertaining for the theatre lovers as some of the folk love tales were staged at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) in connection with its on-going 12th National Theatre Festival on Sunday.

Bhittai Art Council Hyderabad presented on Sunday evening a popular Sindhi folk tale in the Sindhi language play ‘Umar Maarui’, highlighting the women’s struggle in the contemporary context. It was a rare opportunity for a large number of Sindhi speaking audience living in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The jam-pack house on every weekend reflect the increasing interest of common people in the traditional theatre in the city where the quality cultural events are not a frequent deal. The live depiction of one of the most famous folk stories of Sindh was written by Shahnawaz Bhatti and directed by Rafique Essani. The play is about a woman’s fight for her self-respect and honour and how she deals with everything she faces with courage and valour. The cast of the play included Israr Leghari, Murk Shah, Ghazala Ali, Sidra Sheikh, Ayesha Mehak, Parri Mughal, Noor Memon, Akaash Ansari, Mushtaq Chandio, Firdous, Aashiq Hussain, and Allah Bukhsh Otho.

Speaking on the occasion, the PNCA senior consultant Munir Ahmed said, “National cohesive thinking and identity could only be emerged through frequent exchange of cultural realities of the federating units. It would help in developing integrated federalism based on the shared respect and honour for the ethnic diversity and cultural assets of each region. National Theatre Festival is a bouquet of blossoming colours of the regions to make a rainbow of the cultural understanding and harmony.”

The Quetta-based highly motivated theatre enthusiasts of the Al-Faiz Theatre Group presented the great love-tale from Balochistan Hani Shah Mureed. A beloved epic ballad of Balochi folklore has the same importance for the Balochistan what Romeo and Juliet is to English-speaking lands. The story mirrors the life of the Baloch heroes and their emotions and philosophical ideas (God, evil, predestination). The hero of the story ‘Sheh Muree’d (or Shaih Moreed) and the heroine Hani are symbols of pure and tragic love. The story dates back to the 15th century, which is considered to be the heroic age of Balochistan and the classical period of Balochi literature. Directed by Ghafoor Shaheen and Riaz Ahmed Saghir, the play was well performed by the cast including ‘Shama aur Parwana’, written and directed by Ishtiaq Ahmed Atish, presented the youthful and soft emotions and feeling in the backdrop of struggle for the freedom. The story of the play also has reflection a folk tale from Kashmir but feelings of the young woman are more conditional for her lover as she would continue only with him if he joins the army to struggle for the freedom of the Indian Occupied Kashmir.

The performers included MD Lone, Altaf Nadeem, Akhlaq Bokhari, Waqas Awan, Naila Shahzaman, Invesha Raja, Shabana Shahzaman, Komal Raja, and four young men from the army. The Brahvi language comedy-play ‘Orsay Maskhrasay, written and directed by Riaz Ahmed Saghir, was a production of the Bolan Theatre, Quetta, staged at the PNCA open air theatre. All the artistes took the audience to ultimate joy and entertainment.

‘Shatranj kay khiladi’ (the chess players) staged by the Roshi Theatre, Rawalpindi, was an adaptation from the renowned Urdu fiction writer Munshi Premchand. The story revolved around the causes of fall of the states in the united subcontinent as how all the rulers were engaged in the time wasting social curses, and the British army grabbed everything, and arrested all the state lords. Directed by Fazia Akhtar, starring in the play were Anjum Malik, Reeha Yousaf, Shabana Kanwal, Naima Wilson, Babar Abbas, and Rao Tariq Jameel.