KARACHI, June 25: To mark Saadat Hasan Manto’s birth centenary, the National Academy of Performing Arts will present a five-day programme at the Arts Council Karachi beginning on July 5, said an organiser at a press conference held on the Napa premises on Monday.

Mantorama, a play, and readings from the renowned writer’s stories by Napa students would be the highlights of the programme that would run till July 9.

Another play, Kamla, will be presented from July 12 to 15, said Zain Ahmad, the head of the Napa Repertory Theatre.

As Napa has been criticised in the past for showing adapted plays only, Zain said Mantorama was an original play written by Khurram Shafiq and directed by Sunil Shankar, a former student of Napa. Kamla focused on women’s rights, social issues and the dubious moral and ethical practices of journalism. It is written by Indian playwright Vijay Tendulkar and directed by Meesam Naqvi, another Napa graduate.

Napa director Arshad Mahmood said Mantorama would use a live orchestra to enhance the dramatic effects of the play. The music compositions would be original, aiming at conveying Manto’s temperament during the different stages of his life. “The emphasis is on music.

It is not pop, classical or traditional, but more contemporary. It has a different flavour which the audience will notice,” he said.

He said the ‘Readers theatre’, which was revived by Zia Mohyeddin, was being reintroduced with the series and readings by Napa students of Manto’s plays.

Emphasising that the play was not conventional, director Sunil Shankar said Mantorama’s aim was to bring back to life Manto’s imagination. “Our orchestra has merged Mirza Ghalib’s poetry with classical music to evoke a sense of the past. We are using a sarangi and jazz music which will be contemporary, but disciplined, yet will present a new outlook,” he said.

Ahsan Bari, who has composed the music for the play, has also worked with Atif Aslam, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan and Ali Zafar and experiments with jazz and atonal music.

In reply to a question that why only Napa students were being cast in the plays, Zain said Napa never discouraged other artists from performing in its plays.

Answering a question that why Napa plays were not being performed outside Karachi, he said they had gone to India twice and performed in Islamabad and Lahore also.

He announced that Napa convocation for its fourth and fifth batches would be held on its premises on July 11.