Theatre: Anwar Maqsood to scale new heights with 'Siachen'

KopyKats team talks about Anwar Maqsood's upcoming play

KARACHI: Audiences in Karachi and Islamabad are about to get a taste of the tension faced by our soldiers at the world's highest battleground, but not in the way you would expect. 

This September, Anwar Maqsood and KopyKats Productions will team up once more to bring Siachen to Pakistani audiences. Like the battle-turf with which it shares a name, Anwar Maqsood's upcoming play will focus on the conflicts between the soldiers of two countries who have continually been in a state of war with each other - but this time with a slight twist. In Anwar Maqsood's sharp and witty style, the play explores the resentment caused by Pakistani soldiers slaughtering the Gau Mata in front of Indian soldiers who hold the animal sacred.

"Anwar Maqsood has once again written an unsullied spoof exploring what happens when instead of a goat a cow is sent to soldiers at Siachen for slaughter on the occasion of Eid." theater director Dawar Mehmood told The Express Tribune.

"While cows are obviously sacred for Hindus, how Anwar Maqsood interlaces the tension with satire will leave the audience laughing off their seats," Dawar added.

Talking about the expected cast, Dawar said that unlike their previous plays which saw celebrated faces of the theatre industry, this time the cast would consist of fresh faces, and the team is still conducting auditions for the actors. "The script is complete but we are still looking for actors. We have 23 actors in total and they will all be fresh faces," Dawar revealed.

Anwar Maqsood and KopyKats Productions have successfully teamed up to deliver the critically acclaimed Pawnay 14 August, Sawa 14 August, Half Playt, Angan Terha and the very recent Anwar Maqsood ka Dharna, all of which ran to packed houses in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. The team has recently returned from Dubai after an immensely successful three-day run of Anwar Maqsood ka Dharna.

Talking about Sarhay 14 August, the highly-anticipated sequel to Sawa 14 August, which had been announced earlier in 2013 but has not yet materialized. Dawar said that they had not been able to garner enough resources to produce that play.  "Sawa 14 August series was our milestone achievement, nothing like that has been done," Dawar told the Express Tribune. "It’s quite an expensive theatre and costs us more than any of these movies being made in the country. I don’t want to start working on it and not be able to reach the standard it deserves," he added.

He added, "However, it is very much in the pipeline. It will be the finale of our political satires and it will be epic when it finally happens." Dawar said.

As of now, the Kopykats Productions team is scheduled to hold auditions for Siachen in Islamabad on May 9. Siachen will be staged in Islamabad in September and later in Karachi in October this year.