‘Rules of the Game’ is being rehearsed when six characters barge onto the stage demanding that their story be completed. The mind is boggled by their tale as they attempt to find an author who could finish their real-life story. The actors trying to rehearse are disgruntled by the fact that their director is more interested in the real story than the play they are meant to perform. With mounting tension, such taboo topics like incest and extra-marital affairs are discussed, and one is left gaping at how fine a line there is between what could be real and what is make believe.

The latest play to be performed at NAPA from Jan 23-Feb 9, aims to make the audience think, wonder and question this fine line. Six Characters in Search of an Author, which was written by the Italian playwright Luigi Pirandello in 1921, has been adapted in Urdu.

When this play within a play first premiered in Rome in 1922, it was received with mixed reactions from the audience. It is said that its detractors shouted “madhouse!” during the play and Pirandello had to make a swift exit to avoid his adversaries that night. When it was performed in Milan, the play was a huge success and since then has been performed both on and off Broadway as well as being adapted numerous times over the years.

Fawad Khan and Mehr Jafri were backstage rehearsing for the physically tasking and mentally invigorating production when I approached them for comments. Since the content of the play is a heady mix of intellectual discourse and emotional upheaval, one was curious to find out if the theatre audience of Karachi had developed their palates enough to digest such a heavy mix. According to Fawad Khan, also the director of the play, “They do not necessarily have to understand the entire play as long as they are glued to it and are not bored even for an instant.”

Fawad is a 2007 graduate of NAPA and believes that if it weren’t for this platform, theatre in the city would not have flourished the way it has over the past few years. Mehr Jafri, who has an unconventional play like Man on a Black Horse to her credit, plays the pivotal role of the Stepdaughter. She reiterated that the government’s endorsement of the performing arts had ensured legitimacy and a respect for stage performances. Where a little over a decade ago theatre was a dwindling art, it seems to have had a revival of sorts after the establishment of NAPA. Not only is it considered an option of entertainment for a leisure hungry city, it is growing in strength against such competition as Indian cinema. Theatre actors and directors are finally gaining celebrity status after years of hard work. The only dearth in the field is of writers who could write original scripts therefore adaptations are a norm as well as a necessity. Six Characters in Search of an Author has been minimally tampered with, except for a few changes made to make it more relatable to our public.

Eminent actor Rahat Kazmi is going to be playing the character of the Father in the play, and is said to have a deep fondness for Six Characters. “This is a technically difficult play to enact, and since we want to make progress why not take a step forward rather than backward.” He thinks that the term ‘absurdist’ cannot be used to describe Six Characters, rather it could be called a very realistic play with touches of surrealism. He believes in giving the audience a mixture of genres to taste when it comes to theatre in order to develop their appetite for the more complex plays. “The thinking man’s theatre’ is a new and slowly permeating concept that should be introduced and promoted today,” he stated.

Albeit slowly, an awareness of this medium of performing arts, seems to be seeping through to more and more Karachiites. People from both sides of the ‘bridge’ are being drawn to this rather affordable means of entertainment. It is certainly hoped that this trend will continue and provide commercial and intellectual satisfaction to all those who have been striving to keep it afloat, as well as develop another medium to educate and enlighten the masses.