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Fishy business
Laugh-out-loud, slapstick improvisational comedy with class is a rare treat in Karachi. But that’s exactly what Blackfish, a local comedy troupe comprising eight energetic, young budding comedians, is all about. Their reputation precedes them and the group has, in a very short span of time, managed to capture the attention of the city’s comedy lovers without the aid of major sponsors, exploding penguins, stooping to vulgarity or other such wily gimmicks. It’s good, clean fun in an interactive atmosphere, as this writer discovered while witnessing the troupe’s performance for the first time at a recently held dinner theatre event in the city.
Blackfish basically perform a set of skits or ‘games’, as they like to call them, which usually involve the audience, are rip-roaringly funny and totally improvised. There is no script, minimum props and the humour can range from physical comedy to crafty, sardonic one-liners. But keeping cultural norms in mind, the action is nearly always PG-13, with the group refraining from using obscenities, ethnic slurs or other politically incorrect no-nos.
Held in the auditorium of a local library, the event in question started with the introduction of a British Asian lady who was in Pakistan to introduce the ‘Connecting the World’ theatre project. She made a brief speech explaining what the project was all about, saying that it basically paired up theatre troupes from around the world to come together and perform joint pieces in the UK at a future date. Groups from Nigeria, Malaysia, Bangladesh and the UK, among other nations, have been short-listed and Blackfish have the honour of representing Pakistan. This is part of the British government’s efforts to make theatre ‘more inclusive’ as the majority of the British troupes involved have quite a few Pakistani, Bengali and Indian British Asian members.
Hilarity was the order of the day as Blackfish took suggestions from the audience and performed riotous skits around the words or phrases they were given. One of the more memorable skits included a would-be director of a play interviewing actors for a new production and the actors had to enact scenes from the imaginary play, which focused on the antics of the translator
One assumes that thoughts of performing in England were buried deep inside the Blackfish members’ collective consciousness at that time, as there was a more important task in hand – performing and winning over the crowd that night. But as was soon evident, with minor hiccups, the group soon proved that they could live up to the hype, as they souped up the crowd and urged them to play along with the group.
Hilarity was the order of the day as Blackfish took suggestions from the audience and performed riotous skits around the words or phrases they were given. Their modus operandi went something like this: the group would either ask for a suggestion or volunteer from the crowd, or introduce a concept before each game, huddle for a few minutes in the dark to discuss strategy while hip music (Bowie, Iggy Pop, Coldplay — no complaints in that department) blared from the sound system. At the blow of a whistle, the lights would come back on and the group would launch their quest for laughs. Some of the more memorable skits of the evening included one where the would-be director of a play was interviewing actors for a new production, The White Crab, and the actors had to enact scenes from the imaginary play. Another witty game was an interview of a foreign writer, which focused on the antics of the translator.
Though in general the whole show, which was hosted by the British Council for its alumni, was enjoyable, some actors did come across a little stiff and flat that evening, and the bright spotlights seemed to bother most of the performers. But Blackfish members Yassir and Saad put on a great performance, with the former earning points for his physical comedy and facial expressions. Though they performed in English throughout, one wishes an Urdu offshoot of this troupe or something similar soon follows so more people can enjoy this brand of humour.
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