It seems Zia Moheyuddin is next to divinity for Napa students, a mere nod from him at any theatre activity is like succour bestowed from the heavens for them. The cast and crew of the upcoming play, Art (starting from May 4 at the Arts Council auditorium in Karachi), claim that the pat received on the back from Moheyuddin after its presentation has encouraged them to restage it. Art was initially presented in March during the in-house Napa festival.

“Zia sahib specially wrote a note of appreciation for the play,” said a jubilant Sameena Nazeer, director of the play, while speaking exclusively to Images on Sunday, “and it really means a lot to us.” She insists that Art is an adaptation, and not a translation, from the English version of the French play written by Yasmina Reza. It was translated into English by British playwright and film director, Christopher Hampton.

Napa actor Fawad Khan, one of the trio cast in Art, feels good about the fact that it received such a good response last month. “The teaching staff thinks that now is the time that Napa students have truly evolved not only as actors but also as writers, directors, etc,” he said. “We decided to stage this play first because it has a commercial appeal.”

The crew hopes to attract audiences for the play as it had created a “public demand” for itself during the festival. The story revolves around three friends, two of whom, Sameer and Sahir, are poles apart but make a pleasant case of opposites attract. The third friend, Salman, overburdened by the weight of personal issues (he’s about to get married) is generally the conciliatory sort who chooses to go with the flow.

Art opens with Sameer (Adnan Jaffer), one of the friends, excited about having bought an expensive painting (a white canvas with three vaguely emerging lines) by a famous artist. He brings it over to show to his friends, first to Sahir (Fawad Khan) and then Salman (Mansoor Ahmad), and gets differing views from them. He is disappointed when Sahir rejects it outright for being too expensive but Salman reserves his comments and agrees with him that the painting is a true piece of art.

Sameer gets annoyed by Sahir’s ruthlessness and feels cheated. As the play builds up the conflict between the two friends, light banter is thrown about for the “resonating effect” that Sameer claims the painting causes; and yet there is a sense of rapprochement. Sahir feels bad at this point and tries to make up to him, but soon lets loose his bitterness when he realises the painting was nothing but a canvas dipped in white colour.

Art is double-edged: while the play metaphorically makes a comment as to how some of us superficially appreciate art without any real understanding of it, it also reveals how perceptively and yet stupidly human relationships are dealt with, ending up either as joy or pain.

The play will be a treat to watch and may break the general perception that Napa plays generally fail to attract crowds. “We have been able to evolve a general audience for theatre that today many others are also capitalising on,” says Arshad Mahmud. But we still wait for the day when Napa will proudly present local plays based on original scripts from its platform.