Zambeel Dramatic Readings to perform Manto’s works in New Delhi
Zambeel Dramatic Readings to perform Manto’s works in New Delhi
Mahvash Faruqi, Asma Mundrawala & Saife Hasan
KARACHI:
No matter what anyone says, the power of the said word still rules supreme and the successful run of Karachi-based Zambeel Dramatic Readings (ZDR) bears testimony to this. The collective came about when a group of friends gave in to the insistence of others, and read Ismat Chughtai’s Ghungat at a Kinnaird College, Lahore alumni event. The 10-minute performance met with a lot of applause and the same group decided to stick together and hold such readings on a regular basis.
All this was five years ago. Today, ZDR is still going strong and ready to take centre stage in New Delhi on February 29 to perform works of Saadat Hasan Manto. The readings will be part of the closing ceremony of an art exhibition.
The group was formed by visual artist Asma Mundrawala, educator Mahvash Faruqi and actor Saife Hasan. Talking to The Express Tribune, Mundrawala recalled the response to their first-ever performance in January 2011, “There was a lot of encouragement from the crowd. We made use of that feedback and developed our model.”
Lyari stars shine bright during musical theatre
Today, Mundrawala is in charge of the creative aspect of the project, Faruqi looks after the administrative end, and Hasan ensures everything is smooth on the technical side. Most of the group’s performances last year were part of private events at educational institutions. “We performed mostly in schools during their Reading Weeks or Library Days hence the audience was largely restricted to students and teachers only,” Mundrawala added.
Although the group largely focuses on Urdu texts, they have also conducted readings in English. “We once did letters that Alys Faiz wrote to Faiz Ahmed Faiz ... they were in English. Nimra Bucha read them for us at T2F,” she said. Mundrawala admitted when it comes to tone and mannerism, the team has more room to improvise when working with Urdu texts.
Stage is set: Rafi Peer Puppet Festival opens today
The group is known to stage a variety of famous Urdu writings; from letters to humourous plays and even spy thrillers. Last year, they staged around 25 such productions in Pakistan. When asked which genre they enjoy working on the most, she said, “Each one of them is close to our hearts. When we read Ibne Safi, we weren’t sure how it would be received but it did really well. Chughtai works well for us because she employs simpler language which is easier to understand for our audiences.” She said Manto, on the other hand, is not an easy read and is also difficult to understand, yet the audiences listen to his stories with great intent. “Ghulam Abbas’ work is very descriptive so we experiment a little and play sounds of the chirping of birds or rainfall in the background.”
The group also recently launched a CD of stories for children. “It is always the children and teenagers who are most interested in the readings. They really want to learn more about their language,” Mundrawala stated.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 24th, 2016.
No matter what anyone says, the power of the said word still rules supreme and the successful run of Karachi-based Zambeel Dramatic Readings (ZDR) bears testimony to this. The collective came about when a group of friends gave in to the insistence of others, and read Ismat Chughtai’s Ghungat at a Kinnaird College, Lahore alumni event. The 10-minute performance met with a lot of applause and the same group decided to stick together and hold such readings on a regular basis.
All this was five years ago. Today, ZDR is still going strong and ready to take centre stage in New Delhi on February 29 to perform works of Saadat Hasan Manto. The readings will be part of the closing ceremony of an art exhibition.
The group was formed by visual artist Asma Mundrawala, educator Mahvash Faruqi and actor Saife Hasan. Talking to The Express Tribune, Mundrawala recalled the response to their first-ever performance in January 2011, “There was a lot of encouragement from the crowd. We made use of that feedback and developed our model.”
Lyari stars shine bright during musical theatre
Today, Mundrawala is in charge of the creative aspect of the project, Faruqi looks after the administrative end, and Hasan ensures everything is smooth on the technical side. Most of the group’s performances last year were part of private events at educational institutions. “We performed mostly in schools during their Reading Weeks or Library Days hence the audience was largely restricted to students and teachers only,” Mundrawala added.
Although the group largely focuses on Urdu texts, they have also conducted readings in English. “We once did letters that Alys Faiz wrote to Faiz Ahmed Faiz ... they were in English. Nimra Bucha read them for us at T2F,” she said. Mundrawala admitted when it comes to tone and mannerism, the team has more room to improvise when working with Urdu texts.
Stage is set: Rafi Peer Puppet Festival opens today
The group is known to stage a variety of famous Urdu writings; from letters to humourous plays and even spy thrillers. Last year, they staged around 25 such productions in Pakistan. When asked which genre they enjoy working on the most, she said, “Each one of them is close to our hearts. When we read Ibne Safi, we weren’t sure how it would be received but it did really well. Chughtai works well for us because she employs simpler language which is easier to understand for our audiences.” She said Manto, on the other hand, is not an easy read and is also difficult to understand, yet the audiences listen to his stories with great intent. “Ghulam Abbas’ work is very descriptive so we experiment a little and play sounds of the chirping of birds or rainfall in the background.”
The group also recently launched a CD of stories for children. “It is always the children and teenagers who are most interested in the readings. They really want to learn more about their language,” Mundrawala stated.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 24th, 2016.