Young dramatists, performers mesmerise audience at PNCA

Islamabad :The young dramatists and performers geared up the 12th National Theatre Festival over the weekend with the creativity and excellent performances at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA). Written by Imran Khan and Muhammad Ali Farooqi, the play ‘sarisht’ (nature) was staged on Sunday. It reflected the insensitivity of people towards restoring the respect and honour of the girls forced to live in the compromised environment as society girls or whores.
The story of the play is spread over the miseries of forced compromises of three generations – the young woman, her mother and her grandmother who was kidnapped and sold for prostitution during the partition of the Indian Subcontinent. The young lady wants to get rid of her unwanted living but the man she is in love with refuses to take her out because of the social pressure. The key roles were well-played by Maria Zainab and Muhammad Ali Farooqi. The other cast included Sidra Ansaar, Qudsia Mahboob, Muhammad Esa, Sanaullah Jamal, Qudratullah, Raheel Asghar, Maida, Sohaib Ahmed, Ammara syed, Mahreen Elahi, Mahwish Ali, Javeria Mushtaq, Tahira, Muzammil Hussain, Junaid Iqbal, Kainat Riaz, Kashoon Liza, Farhan Munir, Fahim, and Sidra Sarfaraz.
‘Lao to qatlnama mera’, staged on Saturday night, was an adaptation from an English play and a production by Rauf Afridi, a former student of the National Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA), Karachi. The very lively performance with embedded situation comedy turned to be a source amusement for the audience during the entire play. The story revolves around a ‘suicide’ of a detained person in a police station who is assumed to be killed by the police during investigation. Apparently a mentally disturbed person comes to the police station as an inquiry judge where different humorous situations occurred. The play reflected much untoward behaviour of the high ranks and dual faces of the society towards the common citizens and those who need special attention and care. The main cast included Ahmar Hussain, Nadir Hussain, and Maham Ali while Uzma sabeen provided the technical support to the play ‘Lao to qatlnama mera’.
Written by Sa’ad Goraya and directed by Hadia Ahmed, ‘Heraan Pakistan’ turned to be an amazing play staged on Saturday night with all young performer from the Comsats and Bahria universities doing justice to their characters. The play turned to be a bunch of very well thought out moves on the stage, right amount of expressions and timing to react and response to the situations that created comic expression to rightful amusement for the audience.
Adapted from a Niel Simon play and directed by Uzma Sabeen, ‘Meray samnay wali khirki’ was a production of the Karachi-based Rang Manj Production. Based on only three characters, two male friends and co-workers and a female neighbour, left no stone unturned with their excellent performance to enthral the audience. The energetic performance, perfecting timing to react and response developed a marvellous chemistry of the characters, performed by Ahmar Hussain, Owais Mubashir and Irum Bashir.
‘Naqal makani’, a play adapted from a short story by the renowned Urdu fiction writer Rajindar Singh Bedi, was directed by Khalid Khattak, and presented by a Peshawar-based KK Theatre Group. The story reflected untoward situations occurred when a couple started living in a house where a dancing-girl used to live. The play suggested that stigmas are associated with the places as well and people act according to the presumed notions. The cast included Sabir Khan, Lubna Shahzadi, Nadeem Malik, Zarish Khan, and Khalid Khattak.