KARACHI: The National Academy of Performing Arts (Napa) will stage Aasman Se Gira, an Urdu adaptation of Ken Ludwig’s play Lend Me a Tenor, from Sept 22 to Oct 2. This was announced by artistic director of the Napa Repertory Theatre Zain Ahmed at a press conference on Friday.

Speaking to the media, director of the play Uzma Sabeen said the production team included individuals belonging to different batches of the academy. She said in the English version the story revolved around an events manager who intended to put together a musical, whereas her team had adapted the situation as per our society. In it, she said, they’re producing the folk tale of Heer-Ranjha on stage, and the actor who’s supposed to do the character of Ranjha put himself into trouble, triggering a series of unexpected happenings. She said she couldn’t further give away the story.

The writer of Aasman Se Gira, Babar Jamal, said it’s a comedy whose original version was a huge Broadway hit, receiving multiple (Tony) award nominations. He said the character of a pop star in it was also shown in the role of a husband. “It’s a fun play,” he said.

Actor Farhan Alam said he had acted in five or six Napa productions, and this one was his third comedy. He claimed the play would entertain the audience from beginning to end.

Actress Irum praised Uzma Sabeen’s talent as director. She said she gave her performers a free hand which enabled them to understand the situations better. Actors Saad Zameer, Zarqa Naz, Shumaila Taj, Ahmer Hussain and Saddam Hussain also spoke highly of the director.

Zain Ahmed said apart from that, Napa would be organising its Young Directors’ Festival in November. He said it would run for 10 to 12 days. He said last year six plays were put up by the young directors; this year the number would increase.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2016