LAHORE: The premier of Azad Theatre’s play Deewana Bakar-e-Khaish Hoshyar attracted a large audience on Monday at Alhamra Art Centre, The Mall. The play was written by the late Rafi Peer in Urdu after the Partition.

The three-day play is being staged in collaboration with the Lahore Arts Council (LAC). It’s the13th stage production by the Azad Theatre, which was founded in 2011. The significant aspect of the production is that whole cast appeared on the stage for the first time for a public performance. The play is the outcome of a two-month acting workshop in which students not only learnt acting techniques but also dance and stage direction, stage movements, lighting other such stage-related skills.

The play was originally written by eminent playwright and actor the late Rafi Peer in Urdu after the Partition but it has been translated into Punjabi by Imran Pirzada. It was a radio play and was first broadcast from the Lahore Radio Station in the years soon after the Partition. The 70 minutes long, one-act comedy play is about a society which has dual-faced people who are good at deceiving.

The set was suggestive but impressive. The play had recorded music and film songs. It has been directed and choreographed by senior stage artiste Nadeem Abbas.

Talking about the play, Azad Theatre Chief Executive Malik Aslam told Dawn the play was like a milestone in the journey of the theatre group. He said the two-month long acting workshop was attended by the students of various educational institutions.

“We have made certain additions and a few changes in the play to tailor it into a theatrical script from a radio play,” said Mr Aslam and added that a few film songs had also been added to the play such as Ye Duniya Gol Mol Hai and Garam Gulabi Sham, according to the situation of the scene. He said the workshop proved beneficial for the participating students as they had learnt a lot about theatre. Original and improvised film songs were played during the play which added spice to the production. It’s a non-ticketed play and would be staged till Jan 8.

Published in Dawn, January 7th, 2020