SAHIWAL, Oct 5: The three-day Rahs Mela opened on the lawn of the CFE College here on Friday night with the audience consisting of the people from all walks of life.

According to the festival organisers, the event was aimed at changing the meaning of theatre for the public and to attract the people, especially the youth, to performing arts.

The theatre festival is being organised by the Punjab Lok Rahs in collaboration with 17 local sponsors. MNA Pir Imran Shah, MPA Malik Arshad of the PML-N and Sahiwal Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Malik Arshad Husain opened the festival.

The City School’s Luddi team performed a folk dance before the performance of the plays.

Koonj was the first play on Friday night. The story took on the segregation in society based on the class system. Its main characters included a gypsy girl, Thakvi, and a middle class farmer boy, Aslam, and their relationship.

The play was written by Lakht Pasha and directed by Hammad Afzal while its casts included Sabah Masood, Mehvish, Humera and Shahzad.

The other play, Warti Wapri, was staged by the amateur actors from Depalur. The plot revolved around the widespread corruption in public institutions and showed its protagonist, an educated young man, victimised by a local politician.

The play was directed by Imtiaz Wattoo and had Zaeem Ijaz, Sajjad Ahmed, Javed Mumtaz, Asifa Amna and Malkah Zara in its cast.

After the plays, the organisers asked the members of the audience to give their views on the performances.