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Island of fear
After a prolonged stint of creative nothingness, Karachiites were treated to a truly refreshing play in every sense of the word. For one thing, it was an amateur production with everyone from the cast and the set designer to the make-up artiste and producer et al being under 17 — and a commendable one at that. For another, it was based on Agatha Christie’s thriller, And Then There Were None, and was a welcome change from the slapstick comedies that have become the usual fare.
What’s more, the kids — going by the name of Mythos Youth Theatre Group managed to incorporate in the play original plot twists and an impressive improvisation of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata.
The play is gripping from its onset. It starts even before the curtain is raised with sounds of a tussle and a scream. The curtain then reveals a woman in a living-room, with a gun in her hand, standing horrified over a dead body. There is a knock on the door and she screams again, arresting the attention of all present. The stage falls into darkness once more and then reveals the same room abuzz with activity. We learn that the living room -- complete with sofa sets, lace curtains, a well-stocked liquor table and a window overlooking the sea -- is in a house located on the edge of a cliff on an Indian island.
The maid, Mrs Rogers (Anam Pal) and butler, Mr Rogers (Bilal Ahmed) are busy getting the place in order before the arrival of their boss’s weekend guests — the Owens. The hosts themselves have not arrived. As one eccentric guest after another starts to arrive, we learn that none of the motley lot — including Mr Owen’s secretary, Vera Claythorne (Hiba Ali Raza) — seems to know anything about the person who has invited them. Even the butler and maid have never met him.
The mystery deepens as the ten people assembled in the house discover a poem hanging on a wall pertaining to Ten Little Indians, each one dying in some horrific way, and the figurines of ten Red Indians standing on the mantelpiece over the fireplace. Just as the guests are beginning to suspect foul play, a recorded male voice summarily discloses the darkest secrets of each one present there: all of them are murderers, and have been summoned here for retribution.
A commendable feature of the performance was that the young actors never used the microphone; rather, they used the unamplified strength of their vocal chords to throw their voices as best they could. Of course, one or two of them wound up screaming far too much, but they managed quite well
One by one, each inmate of the house appears before the audience to present and justify his/her wrong-doing. However, it is obvious that the unknown host is not convinced, as successively, each guest meets a gruesome death in exactly the same order and manner as mentioned in the poem. Simultaneously, a figurine either disappears from the shelf or appears with its head broken. It is evident that the murderer is one of the inmates, but who?
Directed with the confidence of a pro by Zain Ghani Hashmi and ably assisted by Ali Junejo, the play managed to hold the attention throughout. Aside from the relatively weak acting of a few such as the delivery boy, all ten cast members acted reasonably well, and some — such as Captain Lombard (Rouvan Mahmud), Mrs Mckenzie (Zheela Qaiser), Lawrence Wargrave (Ali Junejo), Anthony Marston (Ahad Lakhani), Dr Armstrong (Gulraiz Khan) and William Henry Blore (Ahmed Hussain) — were actually quite promising.
A commendable feature of the performance was that the young actors never used the microphone; rather, they used the unamplified strength of their vocal chords to throw their voices as best they could. Of course, one or two of them — such as Mrs Brent (Zoyaa Mahmood) and Ms Claythorne — wound up screaming far too much, but they managed quite well.The lighting and sound were handled deftly by Faraaz Muslim, Ahad Lakhani and Wali Khanani. Also deserving special mention are 12-year-old Rafeh Mahmud’s piano rendition of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata and Osman Siddiqui’s guitar play.
A few loopholes in the plot showed that the script was not as tightly knit as it should have been. Nonetheless, the bloopers didn’t detract from the overall pleasure. In fact, the play was a lot more entertaining than many professional ventures, so kudos to the producer, Kenan Mir, and his team.
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