PNCA concluding play: The stuff dreams are made of

Depicting the oft-ignored needs of the physically impaired.

ISLAMABAD:

“Kia aisa nahin ho sakta ka tumharay khwab nagar main hum aam log bhi araam se reh sakain?”(Can we the average people not live in your dream place comfortably?). The question was addressed to a physically challenged girl on a wheel chair, Saadia, who replies, “Why can’t we live comfortably in the real world?”

The two questions held in them the crux of what the writer Nusrat Rehana was trying to convey through “Khawab Nagar”, the final play at the 10-day Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) drama festival.

Rehana, patient of physical dystrophy, a disease that weakens muscles and affects movement, related her life experiences giving the script a very human touch.

The writer tried to highlight problems of the physically challenged in their day-to-day life, without labelling them as ‘special people’. It was not an easy act to execute but the expertise of director Afzal Shah
and a combination of accomplished actors put on a nice show.

The play starts with six young actors and a director, played by Dr Azeem, deciding on a script for their story. The actors urge the director to do something more entertaining this time instead of highlighting sorrows.

In their search they came across Saadia, a patient of muscular dystrophy. Having been born with the disease Saadia lives in a boarding house with other mentally and physically impaired people.

To do a more entertaining play, the actors experience Saadia and her friends’ “dream land” in which they find out that in their world, their “Khwaab Nagar”, there is no place for ‘normal’ people like them.

They experience many discomforts as everything is made to suit the impaired people’s requirements. The frustration of the normal people helps Saadia and the others explain to them some of the problems they face in their (real) world.

In reply to their request of making appropriate arrangements for their needs and requirements Saadia replies, “These are policy matters, the government and NGOS are making a plan for such arrangements to be made soon.”

The allegorical script aptly highlighted the discomfort that people like Saadia have in a world that is oblivious to their requirements.

The play was slow to pick up, had some technical constraints, and four of the eight actors were performing for the first time (which showed).

But the play managed to shine despite these shortcomings. The script was well-written and nicely executed and received a huge round of applause from the packed house.



Published in The Express Tribune, May 21^st, 2011.