Karachi: In the realm of theatre, experimenting with the form of a play helps keep the genre reinvent itself. The reinventing part is important because as the world moves rapidly forward with technological development, the art of storytelling can’t afford not to move along with it.

A play on the penultimate day (Wednesday) of the annual Awami Theatre Festival organised by the Arts Council of Pakistan tried to do that, successfully so. It was titled Mazaq-i-Khaas directed by one of the seasoned performers representing the Karachi stage, Noman Khan.

When one goes out to watch the awami theatre (roughly translated as play for the masses), one usually expects a script replete with double entendre, risqué humour and inattention to footwork as actors often stand in a straight line in front of microphones to deliver dialogue. But Mazaq-i-Khaas, penned by Jamal Mujeeb, doesn’t have that. To explain it simply: it had serious content.

The play opens with a character (Jamal Mujeeb) sitting on a bench in an eerie park place called Aram Bagh. One can hear songs in the background adding to the mystery of the unfamiliar environment. In comes a decked-up Umrao Jan (Fatima Ali Bhai). This is the same character who one finds in the iconic novel by Mirza Hadi Ruswa based on which a few movies have also been made. They exchange lines suggesting their historic relationship but in a contemporary setting. Once they move off-stage, three more characters, in a relativity realistic atmosphere, appear.

They are Muhafiz (Mannan Hameed), a police officer (Sabir Qureshi) and an intellectual named Dr Irfanullah (Shahid Nizami). Dr Irfan knows his Urdu poetry and during the conversation talks about the class disparity that exists in society, giving away his leftist leanings. He also tells the other two men that he’s the administrator at a lunatic asylum. The next scene shows another historical character, Anarkali (Komal Naz) arguing with Salim (Jamal Mujeeb), the same guy who was earlier in conversation with Umrao. It doesn’t take long for things to unfold — the runtime of the drama was surprisingly short, 45 minutes — and Dr Irfan tells everyone that the historical figures are asylum interns on the run. This ignites the debate as to who is mad and who is sane in society.

Given the parameters within which the awami theatre works, Mazaq-i-Khaas is a good production (although one felt that Jamal Mujeeb and Shahid Nizami could have put more thought — and a bit of movement — in their performances). The play will encourage other practitioners of the form to move away from double-meaning lines and run-of-the-mill subjects.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2024