NAPA to run Broadway adaptation after Eid

NAPA director Uzma Sabeen to light up stage with back to back comedy productions

KARACHI: Since the International Theatre Festival was brought to a premature end a few months back, the stage at the National Academy of Performing Arts (Napa) has mostly remained vacant. The academy is now looking to end the eerie silence and reverse the trend as it gears up for an upcoming play, tentatively titled Double Trouble.

Directed by Napa faculty member Uzma Sabeen, the play is an adaptation of the Ken Ludwig-scripted Broadway comedy, Lend Me a Tenor. Speaking to The Express Tribune, Sabeen shared that she would be commencing rehearsals soon. “We are going to start rehearsals sometime around July with the aim of staging it around August or September,” she said. The director further elaborated on how her play compares with the Broadway classic. “It is basically a play about an artist who is slated to perform on a certain day but unexpectedly falls ill. To make matters worse, the people around him give him medicines but he falls unconscious, forcing someone else to step in and continue the show.” The replacement in this case, is the ill-fated actor’s own secretary.



With Napa failing to stage any original comedy productions of late, what then made Sabeen opt for yet another adaptation? “There is a dearth of comedy writers in the country right now which is why we have to resort to doing more adaptations than originals,” she lamented. “Even the plays that Anwar Maqsood sahab is doing rely more on one-liners than on traditional situational comedy.” And yet, shows penned by the veteran playwright have been known to attract full houses on each day of the performances without fail.

Produced under the banner of Napa Repertory Theatre (NRT), the cast for Double Trouble mostly comprises the academy’s own graduates including Ishtiaq-ur-Rusool, Hasan Raza, Zarqa Naz and Erum Bashir, among others. Lend Me a Tenor is amongst the select few plays that have the distinction of being staged at both the West End and Broadway. Throughout its run it has received a total of nine Tony Award nominations, winning in the categories of Best Actor and Best Director. The play has been translated into approximately 16 languages.

Prior to the commencement of Double Trouble’s run at Napa’s auditorium, Sabeen will be directing another play titled Mere Saamnay Wali Khirki, for the All Pakistan Drama Festival taking place at the Arts Council of Karachi. “That [Mere Saamnay Wali Khirki] too is a very light-hearted play and is going to feature a cast of only three people,” she remarked.



Mere Saamnay Wali Khirki is an adaptation of the Neil Simon comedy Star Spangled Girl. The original play is based on a love triangle sprinkled with politics. While the male protagonists, Andy and Normon, struggle to make ends meet through their magazine, Fallout, which is dedicated to fighting against “the system”, the female lead, Sophie is portrayed as your typical all-American, Southern girl. Norman falls in love with Sophie at first-sight but his emotions are not reciprocated. Sophie, as one can predict, is interested in Andy instead, and both of them are at loggerheads due to the conflicting political views.

The All Pakistan Drama Festival is expected to kick off on July 16.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22^nd, 2016.

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