KARACHI: Let’s establish at the outset that the Urdu adaptation of Reginald Rose’s teleplay 12 Angry Men (which was produced for the stage after its successful run on television) titled Qusurwaar directed by Sunil Shankar on Wednesday was the most engaging offering of the ongoing Theatre Festival organised by the Arts Council. Barring negligible shortcomings, and despite having serious over and undertones, the play had the audience glued to their seats till the last line was delivered. This needs to be mentioned because, bear in mind, the festival has no entry fee and anyone can come and watch the play(s) if they have the entry coupons. This suggests that those who only seek fun and frolic on stage also appear in a large number. But on Wednesday, the chock-a-block auditorium witnessed (and I’m using this word in the context of the drama as well) something they found worth queuing up for.

Qusurwaar, penned in Urdu by Wusut Ullah Khan, is set in a room where 12 members of a jury (11 men and a woman) have gathered to deliberate on a homicide case in which an 18-year-old young man has killed his father. All of them have decided that the verdict is guilty. While the men seem to find the case ‘open and shut’, it is the solitary woman, Juror Eight, who doesn’t agree with them. This comes as a surprise to the rest of the jury members. She suggests that the evidence and the two witnesses’ account need to be revisited. Her suggestion is met with a rumbunctious response, especially from Juror Three and Juror Ten. But Juror Eight does not flinch back or budge from her position.

When the arguments between her and the men get to a point where the situation becomes torrid, they go for a secret vote. It turns out that Juror Eight has been able to sway one man on her side. This generates more debate and another round of vote-casting takes place where the opinion becomes equally divided (6-6). This requires further deliberation to the point where even those jurors who were trying to stay with the ‘guilty’ decision because of their latent prejudices or personal predicaments have to give in.

Qusurwaar impresses on quite a few levels. First, Shankar keeps a tight grip on the situation and the sticking points of the discussion. Mind you, I say sticking points. Secondly, the gap between technical nitpickings and a high-strung drama is never allowed to become a yawning one, which keeps the story interesting and worth listening to till the very end. Thirdly, all the actors do a commendable job of interpreting their characters the way they merit. For example, Juror Three does very well in showing he has personal issues that he doesn’t seem to come to terms with. Since his own problems are unresolved, he wants the case to be treated straightforwardly. Only if Juror One could project his voice a bit more… but let’s ignore that.

The dialogic exchange among the actors, in general, goes with the plot. However, a little bit of tweaking is required in the script. For instance, the flamboyant Juror Seven has an interest in the theatre and mistakenly attributes the phrase ‘To be or not to be’ to Othello. And when Foreman corrects him, he replies ‘what difference does it make, all Shakespearean lines sound the same’. Anyone who has even a modicum of interest in literature would know that the phrase is used by Hamlet. In a production as good as the one on Wednesday night, such an oversight can dilute the effect of the seriousness of the message. But on the whole, Qusurwaar is highly recommended.

The following actors took part in the drama: Sunil Shankar (Foreman), Wusut Ullah Khan (Juror One), Fawad Khan (Juror Three), Meesam Naqvi (Juror Four), Saad Fareedi (Juror Five), Ali Junejo (Juror Six), Nazrul Hasan (Juror Seven), Joshinder Chaggar (Juror Eight), Ali Rizvi (Juror Nine), Rauf Afridi (Juror Ten), Osama Tahir (Juror Eleven) and Naveed Kamal (Juror Twelve).

Published in Dawn, November 18th, 2016