ISLAMABAD The beginning of Dastaan Theatre's play Jane Pehchane Ajnabi looked striking indeed, as 11 actors including four girls dressed in black filed on the stage in an attempt to give imagery to Albert Camus's notion that city dwellers remain strangers to the general tenor of civilized life.

In that sense, the young writer and director Zain Ahmad has attempted to make it an existentialist play accentuating dark doors illuminated only by feeble lights. Dim lights and focus through strong lights aimed on the faces of characters also brought an eerie-like atmosphere to the stage.

The opening scenes are impressive when one sees them facing each other and striking on the faces of partners, suggesting the outburst and lack of dignity they have faced in a cruel world. 

The idea of the play was to project the frustrated life of the youth who wanted freedom from the drudgery of jobs, carrying errands for the house and contributing to the income of the family. Apparently, the different characters represented in the play, the boys and girls, were not raised well and lacked inclination or ability to help the household and thus disappoint their families, and themselves in the process. 

All the players including Ali Rizvi, Aimen Tariq, Farhan Shah, Farhad Kashif, Mohsin Ali, Maria Rubab, Mehreen Rafi, Fawad Khan, Saqib Khan, Paras Masroor and the director looked raw. 

All of them had grouse against their families including mothers, fathers and sisters who failed to understand their wishes to free themselves from the constraints of society. Indeed, the symbolism of birds and fowls was predominant because the boys described themselves as a bird seen by their parents and the girls complained of their wings being cut down and their station reduced as puppets. 

At one point, when the boy is allowed to die in the play after violence at home, the mother, too, leans down on the body of her son, showing no remorse. 

The story deals with middle class section of urban societies with a number of children packed in their own homes. In fact, the portrayal of youth reminded many in the audience of the innumerable campaigns of NGOs, wanting to reform the society in their particular image.

A critic looked at the play as one representing the catharsis of the youth when things go wrong with them and the lack of opportunities which bars their rise to employment and the bitter tongue lashing received at home with a message that the family plays a role in child's development and their exclusion can trigger further isolation.