Critically acclaimed: ‘Pawnay 14 August’ comes to town

The play will be staged at the PCNA from October 10 to 22 with daily shows at 8:00 pm.

ISLAMABAD:

After successful runs in Karachi and Lahore, Anwar Maqsood’s theatre play “Pawnay 14 August” is coming to Islamabad.

The play will be staged at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PCNA) from October 10 to 22 with daily shows at 8:00 pm. There will be an additional 4:00 pm show on weekends.

“We have not been able to realise the idea behind the creation of this country, but the youth can fix that,” Maqsood said, explaining the message behind the play at a media briefing on Tuesday. He said Pakistan has tremendous potential which only needs a push in the right direction.

The play’s director, Dawar Mehmood, who runs the theatre company Kopykats productions, said it took him a while to convince Maqsood to write a stage play for them, but once Maqsood agreed, he developed the plot in 90 minutes and wrote the rest of the play in just four days, Mehmood said.

Maqsood said he wrote the play on one condition: Only young new actors would be involved.

“I have written this play for the youth who are the future of this country,” Maqsood said. Talking to The Express Tribune after the conference, Maqsood said it was a “fascinating” experience working with the young team of theatre performers.

“They performance so well, even experienced actors might not match them,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 10^th, 2012.