|
|
|
Two of a kind
What do all of Pakistan’s current top stars have in common with an assortment of acrobats, jugglers, fire-eaters, magicians, clowns, wood puppets and hand puppets? No clue? The answer is the brothers Victor and Vincent Lawrence, who run the Ritz Theatre. Puppet shows for children, large scale concerts with appearances by performers of the likes of Hadiqa Kiani and Shehzad Roy, keep the duo busy.
“We started out around 12 years ago, in 1990. First, we just had one little shop and then that grew into two shops and then three and just a few years ago we moved to this current location. Mohammad Ali Shyhaki was the first performer I booked,” says Vincent Lawrence, the elder of the two brothers.
“It was a show for a pharmaceutical company held at the Marriott, known as the Holiday Inn at that time. This was in 1990. Shyhaki did not have much competition in those days. Ali Haider had not reached his present status; Junaid Jamshed was still performing with the Vital Signs and had not gone solo as yet. The only other solid solo performers was Alamgir.”
The demand for children’s entertainment has not grown and diversified over the years as much as it should have, says Victor.
“There has been that much business which has allowed us to expand and go into various different kinds of entertainment for kids. For example, we have a play area for kids, which we give out on rent. We even call foreign artists from China, England and America. We called Chinese acrobats twice. But these days we can’t do anything because of the situation in the country. People do not want to come here.”
The brothers are more into private shows then commercial ones. “We don’t go for tickets now. In the children’s entertainment business, we give private performances, which are on demand. Last year we did a show with a photo company at Bahria auditorium for kids. Hadiqa Kiani, Fakhr-e-Alam and Shehzad Roy performed for the first time for kids. In addition to these performers, we had puppet shows, acrobats, clowns and magicians.”
So what kind of stories do these puppet shows have?
“We have worked on fairytales, but we have changed them, modernized and easternized them as required. We did Cinderella but we changed the name to ‘Sundar Laila.’ We also did Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin , whom we renamed Alladino, Ali Baba aur Untalis Chor and Mimi the Red Riding Hood. But we have changed the stories around to make them more interesting and different. We add extra characters and write dialogues that the modern Pakistani child can relate to. For example, in Mimi the Red Riding Hood, we have added a few extra animal characters who are friendly and who help the little girl get rid of the wolf.”
Giving an example of how he has modernized the stories, Victor says: “We try to think of what the modern kid will be able to relate to. For example, in Ali Baba aur Untalis Chor, there is a part when we are talking about Khulja Sim Sim, the password to the cave. These days, the word password instantly reminds you of the internet. So when the Sardar comes to the cave, he asks his associate, Number 1, what the
password is. Now, Number 1 is a very cheeky guy who knows that passwords aren’t meant to be given out, so instead, he says that “cave kholne ka password hai ritz@theritz.cyber.net.pk, which is our email address.”
One usually underestimates the amount of work required in coming up with a puppet show. The brothers vociferously agree. “It requires a lot of hard work. We have to start preparing months in advance. We have to write the entire scripts, come up with the background music, songs which will be performed in the show, the sound effects, the numerous backdrops that are needed in the stories and, of course, the creation of the puppets themselves. We get many professionals to help us. We have been lucky to be helped by Bushra Ansari, Khalid Anam, Ayaz Khan.”
Showing a recording of Ali Baba at a school, one actually got to see the kind of appreciation that this team receives from the students. Victor beamed with pride and his face lit up with a grin as he described what happiness and excitement the little puppets brought to those pre-teens.
“We have set a record of taking no more then 10 seconds to change a background. We were also the first puppeteers to come up with a school song, a national song and a song for the environment. We got professional song writers to write these songs for us,” said Vincent.
Referring to concerts, the brothers were emphatic abut one thing. “All this is live. We never allow our performers to play pre-recorded stuff.”
Finally after an almost three hour long interview I realized what the secret to the success of the Ritz Theatre was. Vincent remarked, “We have actually been very lucky with all these stars because we have managed to gain their trust. Ali Haider, for example, will not ask us for an advance and never even remind us once about his payment.”
|
|
|
|
