One hears Karachiites moaning about the scarcity of cultural activities, particularly in the field of theatre. Indeed, when compared to Lahore, Karachi has been relatively less blessed with entertainment through one of the oldest and most time-tested mediums, theatre. Having said that, one can’t overlook the fact that pockets of individual efforts have kept theatre surviving in the city, in one way or the other, in spite of negligible state patronage.
Thespian Kamal Ahmed Rizvi is of the opinion that theatre never became very big in Karachi because it has always been dependent on individuals to prod it along. He recalls that theatre activity took place as early as in the fifties when the then German Council General’s wife, on her own initiative, gathered luminaries such as Zia Mohyeddin, Aslam Azher, Alex Elemore (of Radio Pakistan), Mohsin Shirazi, Ali Khan and Hameed Wyne, and encouraged them to perform English plays of excellent quality. The group came to be known as the Karachi Arts and Theatre Society and held plays at the Theosophical Hall back in 1955. The group sustained itself for seven years.
The only other drama group that existed at the time, one is told, was called ‘Clifton Players’, run by expatriates which used to hold its plays in a naval hall where PNS Shifa now stands. Strangely enough, both the theatre societies, which came into existence roughly at the same time, died natural deaths almost simultaneously. English theatre began to give way to Urdu plays and with most of the active members of the two English theatre societies moving out of the city, there was little incentive left to continue with them.
Urdu plays, Rizvi recalls, were started by Khawaja Moinuddin, followed by Ali Ahmed who formed a drama group which largely performed political plays. Known as The New Theatre Group and The Contemporary Theatre Group, respectively, the two co-existed and were like rivals till they too faded out of the scene in the mid-seventies. As Rizvi puts it, although the plays were impressive, “Woh jam ke karnay wali cheez nahin thi” (they were not permanent endeavours). The thespian is of the opinion that theatre only thrives in those countries where it is subsidized by the government, as for instance, in the UK. “Look at the large number of theatres running in London’s West End. There is so much variety and they are all doing well. The government subsidizes them, so they know they’ll manage to make ends meet.”
According to Rizvi, when he started doing plays at the Arts Council in the sixties, there were no scriptwriters or for that matter, trained actors. He used to write the scripts himself and would train actors. Often, companies used to sponsor the plays and since the audience would comprise the sponsor’s guest list, the theatre groups did not have to fret about ticket sales. But as he himself admits: “It was not a professional way of doing things, and we had no set audience.”
Sheema Kermani remembers being part of a drama circle called Nexus initiated in 1972 which had performed some successful plays including one by Samuel Beckett. The group disbanded with most of its members going abroad. She then started Tehrik-i-Niswan in 1980, a drama group that does community street theatre and which is the only group that has been consistently performing. Rafi Peer Theatre had launched themselves with quality plays in Karachi in 1974, before making puppets their forte, and Rahat Kazmi had initiated Theatrewallay in 1986, only to abandon it after some years.
Kermani corroborates Rizvi’s views that theatre has never managed to really take off in the city for want of state patronage. She is also of the opinion that aside from the fact that there is no government sponsorship, lack of good auditoriums has been responsible for not allowing theatre to flourish in Karachi. The only worthwhile auditorium available at the FTC is unaffordable for most groups.
There are undoubtedly other groups too that have braved all odds and survived over the years — the Karachi Drama Circle being the oldest. Initiated in the latter half of 1976 by Sohail Malik and Mahmood Masood among others, the group has performed over 40 plays so far, mostly English comedies, and seems dedicated enough to continue.
Sania Saeed launched ‘Katha’ in the nineties, still more-or-less active today, while the late Yasmeen Ismail initiated Gripps Theatre concentrating on plays for children. The group still performs on and off and mostly does stand-up comic plays on political themes. The OGS (Old Grammarians’ Society) also deserves mention. One must commend the role of the PNCA which has in its own way been providing a platform to budding actors to hone their talents.
Currently, all hopes are pinned on Zia Mohyeddin who has been promised government support for boosting theatre. There is also talk of an auditorium being set up in the Arts Council as well and that it will be ready soon.
