KARACHI: The Arts Council of Karachi’s annual Theatre Festival began with the play Heer written and directed by Zain Ahmed on Thursday night.

In the post-lock down time (and now we have a mini-lockdown enforced in some areas), the council is, arguably, the only cultural space where activities are taking place in full swing. Prior to this event, the more than two-week-long Awami Theatre Festival took off with a great deal of fanfare on the same premises.

Heer has been put up on stage on a few occasions before, as have most of the dramas to be staged in the festival, with success. It’s a 21st century reworking of the romantic folktale from Punjab that almost everyone who has an interest in stories or romance is familiar with.

The introductory note to the performance claims that the story in this version has been presented from the viewpoint of Heer (played by multiple actresses) and not Ranjha (Kashif Hussain), incorporating modern poetry, dance and music to retell the iconic tale. So what the makers of the play are driving at is that they’ve come up with a feminist perspective of the saga. Fair enough.

Watching the play one realised that it’s the music, composed for the production by the very talented Nigel Bobby, is as much a character in the plot as any other. And this is a wise move.

But the pleasantly surprising item of the day was a street theatre-type performance called Nukkad Theatre that, in a manner of speaking, was the precursor to the event. Directed by Afreen Seher, it was performed by the first-year students of the council who, standing in the foyer of the hall, as soon as the guests arrived, started rapping about Karachi. The rap segued into exchange of lines between girls and boys playing a variety of characters, touching on issues such as torrential rains affecting the high and mighty, the coronavirus pandemic and women’s liberation.

Since the performers lacked experienced, they don’t yet know the fruits of editing. Had they done that, their act would’ve been doubly delightful. Still, they deserve all the accolades.

Earlier, Meesam Naqvi, the coordinator of the festival, lauded the efforts of the young group (Nukkad) for their wholehearted endeavour. He also acknowledged Ahmed Shah, the council’s president, and his team for making the event possible in a short time period after the (full) lockdown.

Ahmed Shah in his speech praised Naqvi for working diligently to put together 24 plays which will be staged until Oct 23.

Provincial Culture Minister Syed Sardar Shah was the chief guest on the occasion. He said extremism and intolerance have become a challenge for the entire world. The most effective way to counter them is to regularly come up with cultural programmes.

He also announced a reward of Rs200,000 for the young girls and boys of Nukkad Theatre.-

Published in Dawn, October 3rd, 2020