KARACHI: The year 2022 saw Pakistani theater limp back to normalcy after two devastating years of the coronavirus pandemic that dealt a severe blow to live stage performances.
Pakistan has always produced stellar acts in the theater industry that have inspired audiences over the decades. However, the pandemic confined people to their homes, depriving them from visiting playhouses amid harsh restrictions.
“2022 has been the best year for theater so far,” President Arts Council of Pakistan (ACP) Muhammad Ahmed Shah told Arab News this week. “One shouldn’t be afraid of experimental theater. We have formed strong roots for theater.”
He maintained the ACP management catered to all social classes while planning their productions.
“With Awami Theatre Festival, we catered to the masses and made sure to entertain them without any vulgarity or senseless content,” he continued.
Shah said 50 theater plays were produced in 2022 that ran for a total of 165 days. The list also featured two English dramas.
He maintained the development of Pakistan’s theater industry was witnessing an “evolutionary process” while informing that the Sindh administration was its “biggest source of funding” in province.
The ACP president said the official funding was only to strengthen the industry “so it can sustain itself in the future.”
One of the stage performances that resonated with audiences in the outgoing year was Anwar Maqsood’s “Sadhay 14 August,” the final part of a trilogy focusing on the relationship between Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, two towering figures of the Subcontinent who helped wrest Pakistan and India from British colonial rule in 1947.
The play premiered on the 75th anniversary of Pakistan’s independence this year.
Actor Fawad Khan as Amjad threatens Irshad (Nazar-ul-Hasan) in a scene from “100 Din Chor Kay” at the Arts Council of Pakistan in Karachi, Pakistan, on December 17, 2022. (Photo courtesy: ACP)
Zeeshan Haider’s recent two-hour-long comedy play “100 Din Chor Kay” enthralled audiences with its witty banter and attracted large number of people. In one of the shows, the artistic performances received an extended standing ovation.
Audiences particularly loved the craft displayed by theater actors Fawad Khan and Nazar-ul-Hasan. The play was the first production under the newly launched repertory theater at ACP.
Haider, a National Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA) graduate, has been an acting coach for the last 15 years. He also helped an American actor for Disney’s Ms. Marvel with dialect and pronunciation.
“We wanted to begin in a lighter vein and make it an inviting thing for audiences,” he told Arab News about his play this week. “There were many who watched the theater for the first time and we built some new audiences with ‘100 Din Chor Kay.’”
Juliet cries after Romeo commits suicide in Zia Mohyeddin’s Urdu adaptation of “Romeo and Juliet” in Karachi, Pakistan, on June 16, 2022. (AN Photo/S.A. Babar)
The cause was also helped by legendary British-Pakistani actor Zia Mohyeddin who directed the Urdu version of “Romeo and Juliet” in 2022. The play is a 1597 tragedy penned by William Shakespeare and is considered by many as one of the finest dramas ever written.
In addition to that, some prominent NAPA productions released during this year included “Betaali Prem Katha,” an adaptation of an Indian folklore, written and directed by Fawad Khan.
“READER” was another production directed by Sunil Shanker’s adaptation of Ariel Dorfman’s play by the same name.
“Both Sit in Silence,” featuring Joyland stars Ali Junejo and Rasti Farooq, also made waves for its unusual concept and setting. Written by Junejo, it was performed in an enclosed space, with audiences sitting on both sides of the stage, and only featured two characters.
Ali Junejo and Rasti Farooq practice “Both Sit in Silence” in Lahore, Pakistan, in June 2022. (Photo courtesy: Olomopolo Media)
President Arts Council of Pakistan Muhammed Ahmed Shah (left) addresses audiences after the performance of “100 Din Chor Kay” at the Arts Council of Pakistan in Karachi, Pakistan, on December 17, 2022. (Courtesy: ACP)
