‘Commercial theatre is doing well’

LAHORE: Commercial theatres in Lahore produce dozens of plays annually and remain open almost every day of the year. Theatres close during the last four days of Ramadan and on Shab-e-Barat and Shab-e-Mairaj but the longest break in theatres’ schedule comes in Muharram when they remain closed from the third day of Muharram until Muharram 12.

“A large number of stage artists attend majalis in Muharram and theatres remain closed in respect of the month. No new productions are launched during this month and Muharram is the month with the least theatre activities,” Commercial Theatre Producers Association Chairman Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ahmad told The Express Tribune.

When asked whether the producers and artists bear some financial loss due to the 10-day break he said, “There isn’t any question of loss and closing theatres in Muharram is an annual practice. Everyone in the business knows that we don’t work in these 10 days and plan accordingly.”

Ahmad said that commercial theatres are currently doing excellent business. “Things are different this year when compared to the last few years. Other entertainment businesses may be suffering from financial losses but commercial theatre is doing pretty well. Normally, a week before Muharram is a very slow week but so far theatres are continuing to pull in large audiences.”

Ahmad said that stage artistes are paid for the whole spell, which is 16 days long, so they don’t have to face any financial loss as they aren’t paid on a day to day basis. “The artists are paid the full fee even if the producer has to bear a loss. So in financial terms nobody suffers during this 10-day break.”

“Most of the stage artistes are Ahle Tashih who attend majalis so they cannot perform. The rest of the artistes don’t perform out of respect,” said stage artiste Afshaar Rahi.

“Theatre activities start resuming after the first 10 days of Muharram. All the mainstream theatres in Lahore including Alfalah Theatre, Mehfil, Naz, Tamaseel and Alhamra start running shows after Muharram 10,” said Rashid, another commercial theatre producer.

There are currently 10 commercial theatres in Lahore. Six of them are situated in the city while the other four are located in the outskirts of Lahore.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 6^th, 2010.