Ajoka plays — a treat for capital’s theatre enthusiasts
ISLAMABAD: Two Ajoka Theatre plays were staged at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) over the weekend, pulling in a number of Ajoka fans as well as theatre enthusiasts in general.
One of the plays performed was Chaak Chakkar, an Urdu adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle. The play is based on a Chinese parable and placed in the Caucasian region of Georgia, while in Shahid Nadeem’s adaptation, it is placed in the period of political turmoil during the fall of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent, depicting the decadence of the Muslim society, the rampant corruption, palace intrigue and selfishness of the elite.
Although the play was written and staged first in 1985 during the repressive rule of Gen Ziaul Haq, it is true depiction of the society even today as “the class contradictions, exploitation of the working class, disposing of the people from their land and resources and lust for power, wealth, judicial activism and political upheavals still persist,” explained Mr Nadeem, a celebrated playwright and pioneer of the golden era of Pakistan Television.
The story begins in the midst of a chaos. Subedar Akharzai (Nabeel Butt) is executed, and his wife Subedarni (Rabeel Butt) flees, abandoning her infant son.
Rano (Hina Tariq), who played the role of a maid very brilliantly, rescues the baby boy. She is forced to make a series of agonising choices that jeopardise her relationship with her fiancé, Karamdad (Suhail Tariq), a young sepahi.
Evading the pursuing troops, the maid takes the boy to her village, finds shelter with her brother and is forced into marriage with a supposedly dying farmer.
When the tide turns, the Subedarni returns to reclaim the child, who happens to be the inheritor of a huge fortune.
The case is presented before a rogue-turned-maverick judge (Usman Raaj) who hands over the boy to the housemaid.
The political situation and the suo motu arbitrary justice of Judge Ajab Khan makes the play meaningful for contemporary Pakistan while the costumes and songs in the Brechtian tradition make the play entertaining and enjoyable.
The play presents fundamental questions about the ownership of the country’s wealth and resources as well as class contradictions and the real nature of justice and democracy and the greed and selfishness of the ruling class.
The play ends with a narration about the miseries of workers and peasants who are yearning for their rights and for justice for the last 70 years, remembering the struggle of the Okara farms tenants.