Raagni: Powerful yet timid

With only three characters on stage, the performance lacked the impact it aimed to project.

KARACHI:

Narrowing the proscenium of a huge theatre hall is a challenging task. You are bringing the audience closer to the plane of action and, as a result, making the experience more personal and less casual. It is a risky aesthetic choice, in any case, because if it doesn’t work out, the audience will take it quite ‘personally’ and if it does, it could be an up-close and incredible experience. Fawad Khan’s use of this technique in Raagni falls on the incredible side, and that is primarily because of his addiction to playing around with space; a craving that afflicts quite a few young directors these days.

An Urdu adaptation of Areil Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden by Shoaib Hashmi , the play revolves around Salman (Zain Ahmed) his wife Saba( Bakhtawar Mazhar) and a surprise guest, Dr Saulat ( Nazar ul Hasan). Salman is a well-reputed attorney who works for the government, and is soon to be promoted to the designation of the Chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Committee. Saba is one of the victims for whose justice the committee has been formed. In 1983, (a clear representation of the Ziaul Haque era), Saba, who was a college student back then, was forcefully pushed into a government car and later on raped repeatedly. The story picks up as Dr Saulat, a stranger who gave Salman a ride when his car broke down, visits their place to spend the night.

Saba’s anger wasn’t nearly as convincing as it could have been. PHOTOS: ATHAR KHAN/EXPRESS

Focused performance is the heart of any play, especially when there are only three characters, and one of them is mostly restricted to a chair. Raagni does translate into a well-gauged and almost clinical performance by all three actors, but one wonders whether such calculated performances were needed in a play that spends most of its time torturing someone.

That is why despite its very crisp, simple and theatrically unconventional rendition, Raagni lacks the shine on an apparently clean surface. To put it more simply, it lacks aggression and more so, a sense of terror. In such a play, the audience needs to feel the torture the character in focus is going through. That simply doesn’t happen, and neither does the sense of guilt and retribution from the morally correct characters transpire in the experience. Though the performances are awe-inspiring, there is still confusion about the director’s intention and the desired response. The end result neither leaves you with a catharsis on truth and reconciliation, nor is a sense of guilt or retribution conveyed. It’s just an otherwise hollow performance played to perfection, with the former not really expected from a director with a vast reservoir of ideas and solid experience.

Saba’s anger wasn’t nearly as convincing as it could have been. PHOTOS: ATHAR KHAN/EXPRESS

Although the craving to see Saba smack, punch or at least slap the tied up Dr Saulat is never entertained, Mazhar easily delivers her career best on stage. Despite her Sindhi accent and a tendency to eat up words during a rapid interchange of dialogues, she has managed to break away from containment and came off as a truly seasoned actor at NAPA. A few years away from the limelight hasn’t really dented the thespian in her, and the ease with which she shifted from being extremely ferocious to being a clueless little girl says a lot about her potential. Khan partially deserves credit for presenting this other side of Mazhar.

Ahmed has done many stage performances in Lahore, but was performing in Karachi for the first time along with his students. The actor in him is very much alive, and his delivery is definitely more convincing than what we usually see here at the pre-performance announcement. Still, he is no match for his students. Hasan had a very short role that was performed with the finesse usually expected of him.

Saba’s anger wasn’t nearly as convincing as it could have been. PHOTOS: ATHAR KHAN/EXPRESS

Verdict: To sum it up, Raagni is a very important play for Pakistani theatre, as it gives upcoming directors a lesson in being dynamic with a very basic plot, script and setting at hand. Unfortunately, it doesn’t really meet the expectations of the director and the script.

Rating: 3/5

Published in The Express Tribune, March 28^th, 2014.

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