PESHAWAR Feb 22: The Dramatic Society of the Edwardes College, Peshawar on Friday evening presented a meld of Shakespeare’s two popular tragedies, Julius Cesar and Anthony & Cleopatra, at its main hall.
Keeping alive the college’s golden theatrical traditions, a troupe of 30 students both men and women played different roles in the stage play captivating audience with glitches free expressions and beautiful footwork. Directed by senior English teacher Professor Nasir Iqbal, in charge of the dramatic society, the two and a half hours long performance was prepared in two and a half months time by young actors.
The old hall of the historic hall packed with attentive participants mostly senior students watched the play with great interest and responded to every important move in the play with a huge round of applause.
They gave a standing ovation after seeing a few moving scenes, especially when Caesar was stabbed to death by his closest and most loyal friend, Brutus.
Cesar and Brutus were played by Musa Khan Marwat and Malik Ihteshamul Haq respectively, while the roles of Cleopatra and Antony were acted out by Rida and Mohammad Khattak.
The story opens on a street in Rome, where two tribunes, Flavius and Marullus, disperse a crowd that is celebrating the return of the greatest ruler of the day, Julius Caesar. The tribunes, fearful of Caesar's ever-increasing power, berate the assembled commoners for their short-sightedness and fickle loyalties. Marullus reminds the cobblers and carpenters that Caesar has conquered another Roman, the noble Pompey.
After defeating Brutus and Cassius, following the assassination of Julius Caesar, Mark Antony becomes one of the three rulers of the Roman Empire, together with Octavius Caesar and Lepidus, and is responsible for the eastern part of the empire. He falls in love with Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt, and settles in Alexandria. However, he is compelled to return to Rome when the empire is threatened by the rebellion of Sextus Pompey, the son of Pompey, who had been defeated by Caesar.
Cleopatra goes to her tomb and sends a message to Antony that she is dead. Antony is devastated and decides to kill himself. He botches the suicide and wounds himself without dying. His followers take him to Cleopatra’s tomb, where he dies in her arms. Cleopatra’s life is in tatters.
Having lost Antony and being at the mercy of Caesar, she resolves to commit suicide. She has someone bring her some poisonous snakes and incites them to bite her. Caesar arrives just after her death and orders that the two lovers be buried together.Professor Nasir told Dawn that the dramatic society worked hard and made it a great success story and called upon other students to participate in such positive events.
“We stage both modern and classic English plays, bringing up Shakespeare to stage was indeed a very difficult task but when there is a will there is a way. Teamwork makes it easier and I am proud of my talented colleagues and students, who played it out in a great manner,” he said.
Rida, who played Cleopatra, said it was her first experience which was very exciting, while Sikandar Khan, who played a eunuch, said though some of his friends made fun of his character in the play, he did it with full dedication.
“Playing a eunuch was a challenging role but I did it because I wanted to break a taboo prevailing in our society,” he said.
Most students, who played in the theatre, were very happy with their performance and said youngsters should take part in co-curricular activities along with their studies.
Vice Principal of Edwardes College Professor Kalimullah Khan said students had great potential and teachers and parents should involve them in healthy activities.