Welcome and while we prepare ‘Kamra No 5’ for you, please meet the maniacs

The second play at the festival does well but fails to live up to its excellent premise.

ISLAMABAD:

The fifth room, readied on instructions, waits for an inmate scheduled to come in at night. And when an unsuspecting traveller in search of a bed ventures into the mental asylum, mistaking it for a hotel, confusion reigns supreme.

Penned by Syed Imtiaz Ali Tahir and directed by Tahir Siddiqui, the second play in the 10-day Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) Drama Festival 2011 “Kamra No 5” had a premise that is a goldmine for comedy: take a madhouse, fill it with eccentric characters and let them loose. Nothing much that can go wrong.

Before the play started, the director and actors felt that “Tom and Jerry” performed the day before would be a tough act to follow. But even though they were performing “Kamra No 5” for the first time, they were confident about their preparation.

The play started 45 minutes past schedule but the audience, many of whom were late themselves, did not seem to mind. People continued to trickle in even after the play started, eventually filling most of the 412 seats in the auditorium.

A couple of party poopers tried to hoot and whistle, but the fast pace coupled with strong performances kept tickling the audience’s fancy. Jammers were activated to block cellphone signals just before the play started, so people were spared disturbances during the play. Overall the 80-minute-long play was well-received and the hall rang with fervent clapping every few minutes.

The writing mostly did justice to the premise, and the talented and experienced cast brought the script to life. Their well-timed executions did not betray the fact that they had been rehearsing for just over a week.

Ismaeel Bashir as the failed-actor-gone-mad stole the show, shifting effortlessly between the three personalities that his role demanded - an actor, a woman and a pathan. All actors gave strong performances, but Bashir’s towering act overshadowed the rest. He became the character that carried the play. A lesser performance would have spelt doom for the entire production.

If Bashir’s character was the spark that ignited the whole play, the asylum’s guard (played by Saeed Anwar) was the glue that held everything together, helping the audience make sense of all the hotchpotch on the stage.

Mohsin Farooqi as the insurance company employee who mistakes the asylum for a hotel was not given much to work with, but did an adequate job.

A few tweaks were done to make the play relevant to Islamabad, with a couple of Karachi Company references thrown in that failed to resonate with the audience.

There were also a few songs inserted into the play but they just gave the killjoys opportunities to do their thing. The dances were not well-choreographed and lacked purpose. The play would probably have done much better without the songs, which instead of adding to the experience, weakened the play.

The ending was underwhelming. One expected the play to go crazier with every passing moment, culminating into a climax that will leave the audience breathless.

That did not happen. Instead of a bang, the audience got a whimper. And this, perhaps, was the play’s greatest shortcoming. Instead of a brief introduction and getting on with the story – a man enters a madhouse having mistaken it for a hotel – the play started with a painstaking introduction of all the asylum’s inmates.

This gave the impression that much more was in store, when in fact the best bits had already been performed by the time the insurance worker entered the hotel. What followed was more of the same, which, though fine, fell short of the expectations the play managed to generate with its strong first half.

The shortcomings could partly be attributed to the script, for not mining the premise for more randomness, and partly the direction, for failing to build up on the momentum generated earlier.

All in all though people seemed to enjoy the free-to-enter play. The cast was satisfied with their performances as they went round after the play receiving congratulations and praises for a job well done.

A total of 20 scripts were received by the management for the festival of which 10 best scripts were chosen for performance, according to PNCA Performing Arts Director Hassan Abbas Raza. The 10-day festival features a different play each day at 7pm at the PNCA headquarters in F-5 and will continue till May 19.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 13^th, 2011.