Drama’s in the air
UMT was one of many concerts in recent times by colleges to consolidate talent from various institutes in the city.
LAHORE:
Last night’s drama festival held by the University of Management and Technology (UMT) was one of the many concerted efforts taken in recent times by dramatic societies of colleges to consolidate talent from various academic institutes in the city.
The UMT drama festival was a two day event with 12 colleges including the National College of Arts (NCA), Beaconhouse National University (BNU), Comsats and Super Colleges participating, and showed six performances each day.
Not only did the festival begin 90 minutes late but was bursting to its seams. The crowd, mostly comprising of young men kept howling, whistling and retorting with comments even during performances. Repeated requests from the organisers to show respect for the guest of honour, Tanvir Islam from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs, as well as the faculty were blatantly ignored and the crowd only quietened when a recital from the Holy Quran began.
Such pathetic lack of discipline at an undergraduate level is not only appalling but depressing. What are our colleges teaching and what is the purpose of putting up a play if one’s own peers do not have the basic manners to appreciate such an effort?
Despite their divergent understanding of theatre, thespians Sania Saeed and Shah Sharabeel, have always bemoaned a lack of culture and ethics in audiences who have no respect for the arts. “One needs a specific taste and decorum to enjoy theatre,” says Saeed. “To get plays to start on time was such a Herculean task for me and then to get the audience to quietly watch the performance was yet another battle,” stated Sharabeel.
Yet one must give credit to UMT’s management team who had a student streaming the plays live. It is heartening to note that students are thinking in new directions to promote their work but what they need first is to develop a sense of discipline amongst their peers.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 1st, 2011.
Last night’s drama festival held by the University of Management and Technology (UMT) was one of the many concerted efforts taken in recent times by dramatic societies of colleges to consolidate talent from various academic institutes in the city.
The UMT drama festival was a two day event with 12 colleges including the National College of Arts (NCA), Beaconhouse National University (BNU), Comsats and Super Colleges participating, and showed six performances each day.
Not only did the festival begin 90 minutes late but was bursting to its seams. The crowd, mostly comprising of young men kept howling, whistling and retorting with comments even during performances. Repeated requests from the organisers to show respect for the guest of honour, Tanvir Islam from the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs, as well as the faculty were blatantly ignored and the crowd only quietened when a recital from the Holy Quran began.
Such pathetic lack of discipline at an undergraduate level is not only appalling but depressing. What are our colleges teaching and what is the purpose of putting up a play if one’s own peers do not have the basic manners to appreciate such an effort?
Despite their divergent understanding of theatre, thespians Sania Saeed and Shah Sharabeel, have always bemoaned a lack of culture and ethics in audiences who have no respect for the arts. “One needs a specific taste and decorum to enjoy theatre,” says Saeed. “To get plays to start on time was such a Herculean task for me and then to get the audience to quietly watch the performance was yet another battle,” stated Sharabeel.
Yet one must give credit to UMT’s management team who had a student streaming the plays live. It is heartening to note that students are thinking in new directions to promote their work but what they need first is to develop a sense of discipline amongst their peers.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 1st, 2011.