KARACHI: A new theatre season of the National Academy of Performing Arts will kick off next week with a comedy play, Sau Din Chor Kay, that loops in all things that can come under the domain of “Pakistaniat”.

This was announced at a press conference held on the Napa premises on Friday.

Written and directed by former graduates of Napa, Baber Jamal and Uzma Sabeen, the new production is said to be inspired by Michael Cooney’s popular play “Cash on Delivery”.

The genre of this Napa production will be a distinct dramatic categorisation that is not always seen in theatre; it will follow the dramatic form of the farce and will tie in “mistaken identities, accidents of coincidence, double entendres and near misses”.

A joint venture between the alumni and current students of the academy, the press conference introduced not just the organisers and the production team, but also allowed the actors to share their insight into the play with all the attendees. This allowed a more valuable comprehension of the project as well as share in the light-hearted anecdotes from the rehearsals.

Quickly skipping over the plot of Sau Din Chor Kay perhaps in a bid to avoid disclosing the entirety of it, script writer Jamal spoke about the experience of penning the comedy, and making it credible and incredible enough for the audience to appreciate its hilarity. Apart from writing, Jamal will also be acting in the play after an almost six-year hiatus and his excitement was clearly evident. He even shared with the audience his inability to remember the lines of the character he plays on stage, which was for him a novelty as he had penned the script himself.

Jamal is part of the new generation of script writers that the academy is proud to have groomed.

Director Sabeen spoke of the chemistry between all those involved in the production, both onstage and off and she spoke of the great rapport amongst all. This is most certainly not her first attempt at directing, as was evident by the confidence with which she spoke. She has directed several plays for the academy as well as commercially. She is currently also teaching new students at Napa, as well as casting them in her productions.

The play revolves around a con artist who commits fraud and wants to free himself of this deceptive life, one that is completely unknown to his fiancee. The narrative is set to offer riotous entertainment through exaggerated and highly improbable circumstances.

While speaking about their rehearsals, a similar refrain was heard from the actors about the necessity to temper the comedic energies of the actors on stage and focus them to further the narrative. And all of them gave director Sabeen credit for channelling them in the right direction as well as tying up the loose ends.

Another feeler was thrown for the attendees regarding productions to be staged later during the year, one of which is a play called “Aik Diary” directed by Rahat Kazmi.

“Sau Din Chor Kay” will be staged Thursdays to Sundays from Sept 11 to 28.

Published in Dawn, September 6th, 2014