Asylum runaways take centre stage

Laakhon Mein Teen will run at Arts Council Karachi till June 22.

KARACHI:

With the theatre culture rapidly evolving in Pakistan, thespians across the nation continue producing entertaining and thought-provoking plays. Another such play, Laakhon Mein Teen, presented by Purple Patch, attempts to challenge our perception of self righteousness juxtaposed with madness. The dark comedy, skillfully contrasted with humour and solemnity brings a new flavour of theatre to stage.

The Red Carpet was held on Thursday, June 12 at Arts Council, Karachi. The evening started off with a display of Karachi bikes, organised by Shah Faisal from Motor Sports. “The purpose is to promote a good image of our country in the current circumstances. Promoting entertainment to benefit the country is an act of bravery,” said Shah.



The chief guest for the event was the evergreen actor-director Zeba Bakhtiar and she was all praises for the play. “I have been a part of the industry for the past 30 years, yet, stage performances greet me with apprehension. Witnessing these people perform so well, makes me really proud,” said Bakhtiar. The actor stressed on the importance of theatre arts in resolving social issues and told The Express Tribune that her support for performing arts will continue for the years to come. “My participation in this event is evidence to the fact that I strongly support such ventures to evoke the public to reflect upon themselves and establish social uniformity,” she added.

Having directed various plays, including Mary Poppins and Bohat Nazuk Surat-e-Haal Hay, Faheem Azam’s work has been limited to the audiences of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. Laakhon Mein Teen is his first play for Karachi and it is likely that this play will meet the high expectations from it. “It is not about where you perform, it is about the complete package - the script, the actors, the sponsors and the crew,” said Azam, who is currently working on another project which is expected to reach theatres by next year.

Laakhon Mein Teen, is a play within a play, that targets several social problems at the same time. Usman Mazhar,playing the role of the lead bank robber, describes the message the play is aiming to convey: “Look into yourself. You only improve when you identify the negative in yourself and positive in others.”



Considering the development in the theatre culture in the past two years, it is becoming challenging for playwrights and producers to live up to the growing expectations of the audiences. Usama Qazi, the owner of Lush Entertainment and producer of Sultana Daku, the first production by Purple Patch, identified that due to frequent exposure to priming theatrical performances, the population is now rooting for refined work of art. “I reckon that there are differences in the way audiences comprehend plays across the nation,” said Qazi, “however, I’ve come to realise that due to frequent production of well-polished plays, the audience is dealing with subjects more maturely now,” he added.



Laakhon Mein Teen is meant to instigate social acceptance, establish cross-border harmony, tackle stereotyping and reflect upon the idea of sententiousness as a whole. An adaptation of the sitcom aired on PTV, this play challenges some crucial social stigmas that we face in our daily lives. The play will run till June 22.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 14^th, 2014.

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