While Napa is stoically putting up its promised amateur theatrical performances despite insufficient audience turnout on most days, and is determinedly keeping theatre alive by teaching students the niceties of acting, it's plays like the recently put up Kanjoos that drive home the importance of seasoned actors performing alongside amateur ones.

Kanjoos with a star cast boasting only Napa students — save veteran performer Zeba Shehnaz — would not have had the appeal it did had it not been for her presence and smooth delivery of witty one-liners. In fact, it seemed that the dialogues had been especially written for her, as there was a marked difference in the script after she made an entry, which was close to the end of the first act.

An adaptation by Ahmed Hamesh, of Moliere's The Miser, the play revolved around the aging and well-to-do Mirza Sahib (Meesam Naqvi), notorious for his niggardly ways. It became apparent right in the beginning that his daughter, Azra (Anushka), was in love with Nasir (Ali Sheikh) who is not only poor and works for Mirza Sahib as his devoted yes-man in order to get into his good books, but was also trying to discover his parentage.

Meanwhile, Mirza Sahib's son, Farrukh (Saqib Sameer), confided in his sister that he was in love with a poor girl, Mariam (Fatima), but was afraid to tell his father as she could not afford a dowry, something that would be unacceptable to the old man.

The twist in the tale occurred when Mirza Sahib himself mentioned the pretty, innocent, homely and well-brought up Mariam as a suitable catch — but for himself! He had asked the match-maker Fargina (Zeba Shehnaz) to intercede on his behalf, and she arrived to inform the old man of her progress and try and wangle some money out of him in the process.

Adding some comical moments were Mirza's two servants — Alfo (Rauf Afridi) and Nimbo (Mihaj Ali Azkari), while Aslam Uncle (Ali Kazmi) who had offered his hand in marriage minus a dowry for Azra, arrived on the scene to bring the play to a true filmi ending.

In spite of the fact that the script was light and the play short, it was basically Shehnaz's presence that made Kanjoos a worthwhile watch. The play picked up momentum with her entry, and her witty dialogues with all kinds of political cracks almost reminded me of Imran Aslam's scripts for Gripps. Comments like “Tum to who sahafi lag rahe ho jo wakeelon say pit kar aaya ho” and “Inn kaalay chashmoon mein toh Sheikh Rasheed lag rahe ho” kept the audience entertained throughout. Zeba's acting was effortless, which is more than what could be said for most of the other actors.

What's more, her experience and confidence saw her through what could have been an awkward moment had it been faced by one of the younger cast — almost halfway through the play electricity went off and it took a while for the generator to start functioning. As Fargina, Shehnaz had just delivered her lines to Mirza Sahib, to the effect that if he married Mariam he would save a lot of money as she would make no demands on him, when the venue plunged into darkness and she promptly piped in, “Mera matlab itnay paisay bachanay ka to nahin tha!” It goes without saying that the audience appreciated her ready wit and applauded to show their approval. And then, when the back-up power supply did resume, the stage revealed the befuddled Mirza standing alone while Fargina had disappeared from the scene. She reappeared, most composed, announcing, “Mein tehlnay chali gaye thi; woh to bahut manhoos gali nikli.”

Aside from Shehnaz, Ali Sheikh delivered his lines with confidence and feeling; and Rauf Afridi played the comical cook-cum-chauffeur with aplomb. However, others in the cast failed to make an impact. In fact, Saqib desperately needed to put expression in his wooden delivery; Anushka could have done with some more inflections in her voice, and Meesam with a little less exaggerated movements.

Crisply directed by Anjum Ayaz, Kanjoos boasted an attractive set designed by Tanveer Abbas. The entire play was basically set in Mirza Sahib's living room, with a raised split level with lots of planters and a garden bench overlooking a lattice-worked window, denoting an area outside the living room.

It has to be handed to the Napa team that they are making every effort to keep the tradition of theatre alive in Karachi. With continued patronage on the audience's part and practice on the students, hopefully theatre will once again become a vibrant medium