Satirical jabs: Improvised comedy leaves audience in stitches

The actors touched on topics such as elections, social trends and media.

KARACHI:

Satire can often get away with what criticism can’t and making use of this art, a group of actors on Friday evening delivered an ‘unscripted’ humourous performance which slyly made fun of the elections, bhatta mafia and even compulsive Facebook users.

The show, MadYA NOT MedYA, by the theatre group ZHARSSS was held at the Pakistan American Cultural Center.

The play had numerous scenes which touched upon different topics, such as the elections, social media and politics. The stage kept altering while actors kept popping in to project different characters.

The play started off with a bustling market where people were shopping and talking when suddenly one actor comes in a plastic gun and says, “Don’t breathe”. The supposed extortionist, apart from terrorizing the actors at the market, also came to the audience and handed them a ‘parchi’.

The next scene showed ‘Baba Pinky’ who was apparently known for performing exorcisms. The twist here was that instead of people being scared, it was the ‘jinn’ who were scared of humans because of mobile snatchings - something many audience members could relate to as it is a rampant activity in Karachi.

Another situation which struck a chord with the audience was the scene with two media anchors reporting about dhandli on the day of elections. As the ‘anchors’ carried on with their commentary, a third person in the centre carried on with putting thappas on ballot papers - an apparent jibe at rigging which took place on May 11.

No holds barred

The actors made sure they didn’t only stick to political satire and turned to social media by making an announcement for ‘Facebook News’. A group of boys used their make-believe laptops - one would say ‘I am happy’ and the others in unison would say ‘like’ and so on.



The play also had a scene from the Mughal era which spoke about people’s problems, such as lack of water, while the Mughals indulged in more frivolous activities -  namely, the singers at the darbar. To mix things up, dances on Punjabi and Bollywood songs were also incorporated into the play - only this time around, the genders switched roles and it was the women chasing men.

From Turkish dramas to the morning shows, both which are widely popular but also criticised in Pakistani society, the actors found innovative ways to make fun of them which the audience applauded.

In the middle of the play, a weather report was narrated through actors taking on the roles of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The actor representing KPK mimicked Imran Khan while ‘Sindh’ started biting the anchor every time he came near - depicting the violence-trodden province.

The show, which was largely humour-based, also underlined social and humanitarian message - the last scene showed the actors as reporters and another actor as a dying man. The ‘reporters’, however, were too busy with breaking the news instead of trying to save the man. And on that note, with a poem on humanity, the improvised comedic play came to an end.

The brains

One of the actors, Abdullah Ali, said that there was only one message behind the play - love Pakistan. Sarmad Khan, another actor, said that “we just wanted to spread smiles” through the comedy directed by Zakiullah Khan.

“We encourage new talent and we sponsor them on our forum. We have seen them perform earlier and we love their performances” said PACC President Rafiq Tabani. “Last year, we had them perform two shows.”

The performance by the ZHARSSS theatre group was the brainchild of an energetic team. “Our attempt is to galvanise the theatre industry with a youth focus,” Yusuf Khan, associate director and actor in the play told The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 19^th, 2013.