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Who stands acquitted?
Ajoka, theatre for social change, set up by a small group of cultural activists in Lahore in 1983; War Against Rape, an NGO that started working to ‘break the silence’ on rape and other forms of sexual abuse in 1989; and the Working Group for Women (WGW), which emerged at the Aga Khan University in 1994 to ‘support and promote women’s advancement,’ came together last week in Karachi to present the play Bari (Acquittal).
It was first performed on International Women’s Day in 1987.
Madeeha Gauhar, the play’s director, was present at the shows with her small team.
The following morning she flew to Islamabad to receive the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, conferred on her on Pakistan Day. Shahid Nadeem, her husband, has written all of Ajoka’s plays, including Bari. One might recall that Bari was adapted as TV serial Neelay haath.
The play begins with Zahida (Tahira Imam), who enters the confines of a cell. She has been brought in as a political prisoner, her ‘crime’ being her participation in a hunger strike. Zahida recounts her middle class status in society and her connections with well-placed individuals. As an active member of a women’s organization, she exudes confidence. However, she is assailed by the morbid surroundings of the cell and the vagaries of its three inmates belonging to the lower-income groups of society. Ultimately, the few days that she spends in captivity sharing the grief, sorrow and helplessness of the women with whom she also shares the cell, makes her a stronger protagonist of the women’s movement.
The third inmate is Jamila, a young girl who has committed murder. Jamila vividly describes what led her to commit the murder. One is left pondering whether the crime of a child-bride’s parents and an old bridegroom can be counted as more heinous than the murder itself
Jannat Bibi, played by the grand old dame of theatre, Uzra Butt, is the oldest of them all. She had been working as a housemaid for an entire lifetime until a petty theft is committed by her grandson, who then absconds. Although she has no knowledge of his whereabouts, she has been imprisoned. Her employers, as well as the police, refuse to believe she knows nothing. Despite the burdens of her age and the seriousness of the routines that she is familiar with, Jannat Bibi springs a pleasant surprise on the audience when her fellow inmates urge her to sing (and dance) to a song that she had learnt in her childhood. At the end of the play, the audience was informed by Madeeha that Uzra Butt is soon going to turn 86. The audience gave her a standing ovation.
Mariam, a deranged rape victim played by Samina Butt, is a victim of not just the perpetrators of the crime, but also society at large and its discriminatory laws. Her character is the most wretched of all, as well as the most touching.
The third inmate is Jamila. She is a young girl who has committed murder. The moody, gloomy, untrusting deportment, outbursts of anger and mild violence as well as coquettish behaviour — all the various colours of the character — are brilliantly portrayed by Samia Mumtaz. Jamila vividly describes what led her to commit a crime as heinous as murder. One is left pondering whether the crime of a child-bride’s parents and an old bridegroom can be counted as more heinous than the murder itself.
Ajoka’s plays have dealt mostly with issues pertaining to women, or those that would help promote a humane and egalitarian society. Although Bari is one of the more ‘audio’ plays compared to some of the visual treats that Ajoka has in its repertoire (like Bala king, staged in Karachi a couple of years ago), it is nevertheless a very powerful play. The voice of Naseem Abbas, who remains behind the scenes as the ‘warden,’ is authoritative and mean, and his singing voice, rendering Bulleh Shah and Waris Shah’s poetry, is poignant. With a starkly simple set and dramatic lighting, all the four actors turned in brilliant performances, moving several in the audience to tears.
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