KARACHI, Aug 26: Janey Pehchaney Ajnabi scored on multiple fronts. Most importantly, it hit home because it discusses the theme of family relationships in the modern age with frankness.

Staged by the Napa Repertory Theatre Company, it premiered on Tuesday night at the Arts Council theatre in front of a largely appreciative audience that applauded repeatedly during the performance, indicating that something must have been done right by director Zain Ahmed and his ensemble cast.

Unlike many of the plays staged in the city, Janey Pehchaney Ajnabi was neither an adaptation nor a translation of a foreign play but an original, experimental production based on the theme of familial relationships. And perhaps therein lay its appeal: the play touched upon pressing issues that affect the urban Pakistani and was not a detached philosophical treatise about some far-away land or historical period.

The director and the players improvised and developed the plot in workshops and as Mr Ahmed explained at the beginning of the performance, the play was roughly divided into three portions: relationships between parents and children; relationships between siblings and relationships severed by political borders.

Janey Pehchaney Ajnabi is a montage of scenes with no linear story-line. It does not go from point A to point B but seems to develop its trajectory as it goes along. Given that the director set himself a tough task by choosing to stage a play in the improvisational style, the production is remarkably cohesive as all the loose ends seem to be tied together, whether it is the monologues, dialogues, songs or movement pieces.

The players address the fissures that have caused severe strain to the traditional family unit as we know it. The pressures of city life keep on piling, testing the nerves of the multiple protagonists, as they are surrounded by a cacophonous din of never to be fulfilled demands. Working men bemoan the fact that their efforts are never appreciated, while teenagers detest it when they are compared to more successful peers by their parents. However, it was not all heaviness as grim issues gave way to a comic segment where the players formed a chorus line and sang out their lines as in a musical.

The dreadful transition between childhood, when brothers and sisters used to romp around with carefree abandon, and adulthood, when steely silence often replaces joy, was quite moving, when it came time to address relationships between siblings.

As a transition to the third segment, accompanied by a swinging guitar rhythm, the players belted out what seemed to be the theme song of the play. A truly oddball moment, the cast performed the free-wheeling number – featuring lyrics from way beyond left field – with aplomb and unrestrained chutzpah.

Though the last segment, which seemed to deal with relationships destroyed by political boundaries, was not as full-on as the previous two segments, it still raised powerful questions about divided families and the devastating impact this situation has had on relationships.

The acting was for the most part very well done and the young cast deserve kudos for their performance. However, this writer feels that the lines delivered in English did not have the same impact as the Urdu monologues, some of which were truly outstanding. The actors made full use of the acoustics of the hall, while the lighting was superb.

The director has pulled off an admirable feat and audiences will have an interesting roller-coaster ride of emotions, being shaken by the disturbing truths uttered by the players, while laughing out loud to the song and dance routines seemingly straight out of a bizarre dream. Perhaps this outlandish mix of comedy and tragedy is a somewhat true reflection of the zeitgeist of these strange, strange times.

Janey Pehchaney Ajnabi will run till

Aug 30.