A dispirited arts festival opens

The Cogito Youth Performing Arts Festival finally kicks off in Karachi after almost a fortnight’s delay.

KARACHI: The Cogito Youth Performing Arts Festival finally kicked off in Karachi after almost a fortnight’s delay.

Shehzad Ghias, president of Cogito Theatre Productions told The Express Tribune, “Cogito has given a platform to those young people who are actually not performing professionally but who believe they have talent.”

Two acts were staged on the opening day, of dance and theatre respectively.

The first act that was by dance group Pop Stop that performed a dance number called “The Dutch Effect”, which was partly acting and was partly Michael Jackson’s famous Moonwalk step. The performers Baber and Talal deserve full credit for their flawless steps, gestures and signals.

The second highlight of the evening was a theatrical performance in which students from various business and art schools participated.

Ahmed Khan (who is currently enrolled at National College of Arts and completing a degree in architecture) wrote and directed the play, titled Tamasha-e-Zeest. He said, “People here generally adapt foreign plays; I am based in Lahore and am impressed by Ajoka Theatre that believes in doing original and serious theatre.”

Khan spoke about plot and the theme of the play, which featured dark humour and was based on the themes of gang warfare and violence. Khan said, “The way the underworld functions in our country is a reality; but the point is how do we make a change in the setup?”

“The brother-sister duo played the role of a crime fighter and another was a journalist; the brother was involved in working against the thugs and mafia people. But at the end (of the play) we offer hope to people,” said Khan.

Ghias, who owns the theatre company added, “It is all about psychological mind games.”

“We wanted to do it because we were hoping we would be performing for a larger audience (not many people showed up), as we wanted to create awareness and wanted people to relate to it,” he said.

The young crowd of performers carried out their acts as best as they could, but as amateurs, they failed to impress much.

The festival concludes on Sunday.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 3^rd, 2010.