Theatre in Lahore: Noises Off (5th- 9th August 2010) ****

A Production Illusions Presentation


Directed by Omair Rana

Here’s the thing with going to see a play with big names on the board, you can be sure of quality. A star cast with impeccable acting skills, add to that a dedicated production team Noises Off gave its audience a taste of quality theatre.

Michael Frayn’s Noises Off is considered to be the king of farce and has seen numerous re-enactments all over the world (face book noises off and you will see what I mean); in fact this is the second time it is being done in Lahore.

It’s a three act play with a play within a play, showing what goes on pre, post and during production on stage and back stage. I am not going to go into the details of the plot; it’s a well known script, if you are interested in reading the synopsis click: Noises Off (this link will give you a word by word synopsis given in the brochure of the play).

The cast included Ayesha Alam, who was absolutely brilliant, Ian Eldred known for his spontaneous performances on stage in numerous plays before this, was equally good in this one, then we have the one and only Omair Rana who is also the director of the play, he does a brilliant job as both director of the play and playing a director in the play. Salman Naseer and Mina Malik deserve a special mention, both of them were amazing! Mina as the reliable Belinda in the play is an equally reliable actor, her performance was so original that for a while you forget that its theatre and not real lives. Saad Masood as Selsdon kept the mood light. Other then the star cast what made the play unique was the set, for the first time in Pakistan we got to see an actually revolving set that does the whole 360 degrees! The front is the on stage and swishhh… it revolves and viola you have the backstage.

The fact that art director Ayesha Shuja and her team were able to create this baby and pull it off without it falling apart in my opinion deserves great respect.

The Revolving Stage

What is a review without criticism? So here’s the thing, the acting was amazing, the set was a creative masterpiece and the costumes by Aasia Sail fit the characters perfectly but the time it took to set the stage between acts was painstakingly long… what’s the point of having a revolving stage if you are going to take a good ten minutes to switch sides and set it up? An English farce of this caliber is hard for the audience to grasp in the first place, and if you have long breaks between acts people will lose concentration and interest. And that’s just what happened! The Tom & Jerry background music that played while the sets were being changed did not help the situation at all.

Other then that I recommend that all you theatre enthusiasts go see the play there are still three performances left, it’s not every day that we have good quality theatre being performed by individuals who actually love the art form and pour their heart and soul into the performance.

P.S:

I completely forgot to mention Madiha Saail and Group, Madeha’s soft melodious voice kept the audience entertained before the play began. The group is worth mentioning, for I loved their original song, the lyrics proved that the youth of this nation ‘does’ care. Keep up the good work guys.

We look forward to seeing more quality theatre from Production Illusions’ team, and hope that the next play will be more culturally in sync with our traditions. I loved Ian’s interview in Tribune on the subject, way to go!

Theatre in Lahore: Khatra-e-Jaan (22nd- 24th July 2010) ****

Day 1: House Full


Day 2: House Full

Day 3: YOU MUST GO SEE!

Theatre in Lahore is primarily divided into three categories: the traditional Punjabi (not for families), the Urdu artistic kind and finally the new breed of English plays. The last kind attracts a mass youth following; but the problem with these plays is that the culture they present isn’t ours, the language isn’t ours and finally over time they have become excessively similar to their Punjabi counterparts save for the language…amidst all this Khatra-e-Jaan is a welcome break. Talal Ali Jan (director) and Hell Box production with a team of young talented actors took Dr. Enver Sajjad’s script and turned it into an evening full of spirit and light hearted laughter. The best part about the play for me was that it was funny without the usual lewd comedy and actually had some moral worth.

The play is set in a typical ‘undroon shehr’ clinic, the story revolves around a greedy mal-practicing doctor who doesn’t have a degree and is responsible for the deaths of many. His daughter Bano is in love with her cousin Khalid a poor clerk, but Doctor Sahib is against their marriage. Majeed the dispenser at the clinic wants to one day become a doctor like his boss, through hit and trial to eventually win the hand of his love interest Naila, a small town girl.

The doctor one day on his return from a house call, throws one of his usual tantrums, gets rid of everyone and starts drinking, until lights flash and there is complete blackout, he presumes it’s just merely power failure until from amidst the audience a ghost steps forth and onto the stage. The ‘Ajnabee’ tells him that he is here to take him to hell; initially the doctor assumes he’s just a patient with dementia, but on his dispenser’s return he realizes although everyone can hear the ghost they can’t see him. The identity of the ‘Ajnabee’ is revealed towards the latter half of the play. During the course of the play you will be introduced to various other characters, each one of them funnier than the next.

The actors were a group of extremely talented youngsters, whose age you would not be able to guess until the curtain call and you will be surprised to say the least. Ajnabee played by fifteen year old Hamza Kamal gets the most laughs, what’s amazing is the fact that his improv of the original character is what drew most applause and appreciation. Majeed played by Farrukh for me was the strongest and most consistent character. Truth be told I wasn’t expecting much out of this play, in fact I was sure that it would be yet another typical wannabe angraiz comedy performed by a bunch of young bucks who don’t have a clue but I was amazed, the content and the performances far exceeded my expectations. Maie Haseena, Naila, Khalid, Bibi Majeeda, Muna, Bano, Ainak wala Baba and Maulvi as supporting characters were amazing. Talal and the rest of the Hell Box team you guys did a great job… two thumbs up!

P.S:

A little criticism is a must, what was missing were brochures…so, writing this review was a memory test as far as the cast and character names were concerned. Oh and a shout out to the hall management and security team: great crowd control!