KARACHI, April 11: The Napa Repertory Theatre will present two plays Badshahat Ka Khatma (based on Sadat Hasan Manto’s story) and Rajinder Singh Bedi’s Naql-i-Makani, both directed by Khalid Ahmed, from April 18.

The double bill will run every week from Thursday to Sunday till May 5. This was announced by the Repertory Theatre’s artistic director Zain Ahmed at a press conference in the academy’s in-house theatre on Thursday evening.

Zain Ahmed said the academy was trying to organise its theatrical presentations on a regular basis, and once the double bill was over the academy would produce Luigi Pirandello’s ‘Six Characters in Search of an Author’ directed by Rahat Kazmi from May 22.

Informing the media on the double bill, Khalid Ahmed said there were only a few plays in Urdu that could be produced on stage and Bedi’s play was one of them, as it fulfilled all the requirements of theatre. He mentioned it had been a while since he wanted to do this drama. As for Manto’s story, he said it’s a known piece of literature and had once been produced on Pakistan Television.

The cast included Nazarul Hasan and Kaif Ghaznavi. The latter was a TV actress who was also into music and dance, he added.

Replying to a question on original scripts for theatre, Zain Ahmed said last year Napa had announced a playwrights’ competition that proved a fruitful exercise. One of the scripts received (on cricket) would be presented in August, he added.

Arshad Mahmud highlighted the need for opinion-making on the part of the media in order to help creative pursuits. He said the media’s reports on theatre and musical concerts facilitated in spreading the message.

Responding to a question about the success of Anwar Maqsood’s play Aangan Terha, Khalid Ahmed said he thought it was an extension of the television serial.

In the end, it was announced that the press show for the double bill would take place on April 17 at 6pm.