KARACHI: In American poet Robert Frost’s iconic poem The Road Not Taken, the question of ‘torn between two choices’ is beautifully and lyrically raised. It is an important question that no man can escape in his lifetime. This was also the premise of the fourth foreign production titled Ken B Eniwan’s Story that took place on Thursday and Friday at the ongoing Pakistan Theatre Festival organised by the Arts Council of Pakistan.

It was directed by Ruwanthie de Chickera and designed by de Chickera and Hidayaath Hazeer.

They say no man ever steps in the same river twice. In the Sri Lankan play, the protagonist is conflicted between matters related to faith and the vicissitudes of time driven by fear. Either way, he experiences the evanescent nature of things, tangible or intangible. This dilemma forms the crux of his struggle in his life, which, by the way, ‘can be anyone’s story’. What a smart play on words!

Although the tale has a lively pace to it marked by good scripting and stage direction, the fact that even in a lighter vein it raises heavy existential questions is what makes it special. The whole saga unfolds by showing corresponding ages of 90 and 1 in two split-screen type parts of stage ending with 45 and 45, having five years’ gap. It’s all divided into the chapters: body, society, family, friendship, love, work, hate, heartbreak, power and reckoning. In this way, the makers intelligently cover almost all the areas of an ostensibly normal single life in terms of lifespan and its various stages.

The use of soft light works well for the purpose because it never allows the performance to move into a dense location. The music for all chapters is apt — peppy when it needs to be and melancholic when the situation demands. And the commentary serves the purpose of narration.

The cast, which did a fine job and must be commended for their effort, included Hidayaath Hazeer, Duminda Sandaruwan, Shala Amarasuriya, Bhanu Ekanayake, Oshada Kumarikkanda, Tracy Jayasinghe, Vimukthi Kiriella, Marhaba Noor and Komal Hayat Veerji (the last two being the students of the Arts Council).

Published in Dawn, September 24rd, 2023