Some references are unavoidable. The memory trail inevitably leads one to The Mall and, inescapably, to Gen Zia’s times to recall the first image of Madeeha Gauhar on the slate. “Wait. Who is this lady? I have seen her on TV,” a young, curious lad asked an accompanying friend as they saw her standing near the Anarkali bus stop, apparently waiting for her ride and being subjected to a lot of notice by those around her.

“This is Madeeha Gauhar. The word is that you don’t mess around with her,” came the reply. This was not yet the crazy 1980s but the reputation was already much in the making.

Madeeha passed away in Lahore on Wednesday after battling colon cancer for three years. She was born in Karachi in 1956 and leaves behind her husband, partner and true comrade, Shahid Mahmood Nadeem, and two sons. Her funeral will take place at 5pm on Thursday (today), at her Sarwar Road residence in Lahore cantonment.

There was always a certain madness about her. The method that served her for long years and which she found in 1983-84 when she co-founded Ajoka. That signalled a kind of formal acceptance of the challenge to fight for her ideals in a more organised manner against authorities that always found new sets of objections to label her work with. Commonly, she was easily dubbed a twisted mind taking too many liberties with religion and national ideology.

The times she had been thrown up by had obviously taught her to be blunt. Her entry on the big stage had coincided with a series of measures by the martial law regime of Gen Zia to tighten the grip over how Pakistanis chose to lead their lives, using religion as an easy excuse. The general provided the young change-seeker the perfect excuse for the theatricals that she along with her husband and partner Shahid Nadeem and their colleagues in Ajoka produced.

The oppressive martial law regime was resisted by the people, their will finding expression in the work and struggle of a select band of brave and determined individuals. The elite group of resistance included some of the most stand-out women that this country has produced. Women such as Asma Jahangir, who passed away a couple of months ago, and of course Madeeha Gauhar, who epitomised total commitment and unending resolve.

Madeeha placed great emphasis on how the message was conveyed to the masses. She was deliberately direct where some others might have preferred a more nuanced, roundabout approach to communicating harsh truths.

The tone was set by her early choices, Sartre, Badal Sircar, who is a pioneer of modern street theatre in India and elsewhere, followed by a series of plays written by Shahid Nadeem.

Born in Karachi to Ali Gauhar Jafri, an army officer, and Khadija Gauhar, a well-known author, she was the eldest amongst two girls and one boy. Madeeha went to Kinnaird College, from where she did her BA, in 1975. She next enrolled in a Masters programme in the Government College Lahore.

She was president of Najam-ud-Din Dramatic Club at the Kinnaird College and of the Government College Lahore Dramatics Club (the famous GTDC). She then did her Masters in Theatre Studies from the University of London in 1985. Her thesis was on “The Western Influences on the Theatre of the Subcontinent”.

One endearing episode that has been frequently recalled is when Madeeha and her friends managed to stage Sartre’s Men Without Shadows under the renowned GTDC in the face of all kinds of hurdles created by the college administration.

Madeeha founded Ajoka Theatre Pakistan in 1984 and under its banner she went on to direct more than three dozen plays. These plays were performed nationally and on international tours.

She was awarded the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz by the government of Pakistan in 2003. The Netherlands awarded her the Prince Claus Award in 2006. In 2014 she was awarded the Fatima Jinnah Award by the government.

Ajoka was in the vanguard of the movement that sought to use the alternative theatre for a meaningful change in Pakistan. Madeeha made her intentions about using the popular medium of the street theatre clear when she staged Badal Sircar’s Jaloos around 1985. In those oppressive times the play was often performed to charged audience inside an accommodating friend’s house.

This was followed by an Urdu adaptation by Shahid Nadeem of Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle. Next came Barri (Acquittal) and Marya Hoya Kutta (The Dead Dog).

In 1988 she directed Urdu adaptation of Brecht’s The Good Person of Sezuan and in 1989 Shahid Nadeem’s Chullah aur chaar divari (The Stove).

Joining the demand for the rights of women she directed Sharam Di Gal (A Matter of Shame) for street audiences. In 1991 she directed Dhi Rani and also the dramatic adaptations of two of Manto’s famous stories —Toba Tek Singh and Naya Qanoon. In the 1990s she also directed Teesri Dastak, again a play by Shahid Nadeem.

A proponent of peace in the world, Madeeha organised in Lahore four editions of the Indo-Pak “Panj Pani” Theatre Festivals between 2004 and 2007. She frequently took her theatre to India.

“Gauhar conducted theatre training workshops in different parts of Pakistan for community, women, minority rights activists and children,” according to a statement by Ajoka. “She participated in theatre and production workshops and conferences, seminars in UK, US, Australia, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand, India, Bangladesh and Nepal. She was also an office-holder in different theatre bodies such as the South Asian Theatre Committee and the International Drama and Education.”

She was among the founders of Women’s Action Forum and ceaselessly campaigned for the repeal of discriminatory laws against women and minorities. She was victimised for her activism and lost her job as a lecturer in a government college and was also jailed for some time.

Her influence on theatre in Pakistan has been huge. She inspired the emergence of many groups in the country committed to using the theatre to spread the message for social and political change. But that doesn’t change her position as an original icon of the alternative or serious theatre in a country as tough for the practice of the genre as Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2018