Encompassing Pakistani Theatre (Part - 2)

Continued from the previous Edition.

Karachi established itself as a hub for creative activities, especially theatre. Khawja  Mohayyudin produced his first ever play, Lal Qilay Se Lalu Khet Tak in the 1950s to highlight the plight of migrants. In West Pakistan, Shahid Amin, Munir Chaudhary and Ranesh Dasgupta were the early dramatists. In the regime of Ayub Khan, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto was given the commerce portfolio. There is evidence of state-sponsored theatre in 1963. Pakistan Council for National Integration was formed to inculcate a sense of national unity. The first production under its platform was named Rishta in 1965. The play intended to highlight the spirit of brotherhood among the two units of Pakistan. The Ayub regime was followed by Yahya Khan‘s. Many a theatre practitioner emerged with their dramas mostly politically motivated i-e Major Ishaq Muhammad who produced his famous Punjabi play, Mussali, performed in poverty-hit areas of Punjab. In 1971 Sarmad Sehbai produced a Punjabi play, Tun Kaun – Mein Kaun, in Government College Lahore and Shahid Nadeem (Ajoka) debuted with his play Marya Hoya Khota in Lahore. Ajoka appeared in a major theatre group in Lahore later. On the other hand, another theatre group, Tehreek i Niswan founded by Shima Kirmani, had made headlines due to its provoking plays. The group was inspired by Ali Ahmed‘s NATAK which was partially funded by Bhutto in the late 1950s. Kirmani and her young team members often acknowledge the fact and mentioned their recollection of watching NATAK‘s live anti-establishment plays which reflected Ali Ahmed‘s Marxist approach. Zia‘s dictatorial regime gave birth to political theatre in Pakistan. As mentioned earlier, expression of art was censored and limited rather discouraged in that era, theatre practitioners like Madeeha Gauhar, Shima Kirmani and Shahid Nadeem along with their groups, Ajoka and Tehreek i Niswan respectively produced several anti-establishment plays in Punjab and Sindh. Zia‘s radicalization and Islamization policies were brutally criticized which resulted in the arrest of many theatre practitioners, writers and poets as well. Tehrik-e-Niswan: It was founded by Sheema Kermani in 1979, emerged in Karachi‘s low income community areas, an office was set up after few years of volitional service in community areas in cooperation with trade union groups with which Kermani worked closely after her return from UK in 1972. Kermani was inspired to work with women when the trade union groups showed the need to bring out factory women workers in the movement. The impacts of Islamization came up as the rise of religious extremism and intolerance led to another era of drama and theatre in Pakistan. Sheema Kermani presented a drama sojourn named Dard kay Faasly (Distances of Pain, 1981, it is an explanation of the situation being faced by the women of that time, due to religious extremism and intolerance. In 1988 Benazir Bhutto came up as Prime Minister of Pakistan after the mysterious demise of Zia. Benazir could not control the impacts of Islamization policies. At this time parallel theatre continued its work by drawing the political situation. Moreover, the work of Ajoka and Tehrik-i-Niswan, the Punjab Lok Raks plays also started to represent the oppressed class by highlighting their problems. In an international theatre festival of Cairo in 1997, drama Bandiwan (Prisoner) was presented by the Punjab Lok Rehas and Ajoka. Growing political tensions between America, Afghanistan and Pakistan affected the theme of theatre in Pakistan. The political incidents like 9/11, Pakistan’s backing of Jihadism, killing of Benazir Bhutto and presence of Osama bin Laden and then his assassination by America smashed the international image. At that time art and theatre was on tough side of life but besides all this Ajoka presented Hotel Mohinjodaro in 2008 and Tehrik-e-Niswan performed Anwar Jafri‘s Hum Roken Gay. (We will stop) in 2012 these plays were examples of the impact of the political and religious chaotic situation in Pakistan. Moreover, Fehmida Riaz‘s play Jang Ab Nahin Hogi (There will be no war) in 2003 was presented in the World Lysistrata Project. The bhands was also performed at that time and highlighted the culture of Hijras in Pakistan they imitated the political characters of that time. Theatre in the English language is an interesting part of theatrical art in Pakistan. It has introduced different perspectives and techniques in Pakistani theatre. The English musicals, dance and adaptations of on western drama was a challenge to Talibanization in Pakistan. There was a unique English play, Nida Butt‘s Chicago in 2008 which showed the growing tradition of corruption in administrators. The English theatre groups have produced marvelous plays for example, Phantom of the Opera by Shah Sharabeel in 2008 and Moulin Rouge in 2009, his revision of Ray and Michael Cooney‘s Tom, Dick and Harry were premiered in 2005 which was a combination of Punjabi language and culture. On the contrary, Karachi by Nida Butt in 2011 was also a play to highlight the modern city of Karachi and its environment of looting and brutality of local mafia. Theatre of the present age is growing with innovative ideas even in a country like Pakistan. There are many theatrical groups working in Pakistan and bringing new ideas. The regional theatre in Pakistan is not as rich, there are some small groups in Sindh, and Punjab, but in KPK and Balochistan theatre is not as trendier. Samina Ahmed comments on the current situation of theatre, Pakistani theatre is again going through a phase of transformation and artists are trying to win the audience over by quality performances. (What‘s eating Pakistani theatre?‘, Hence, looking forward optimistically, theatre in Pakistan is reviving its content, theme and quality because of growing awareness of the significance of media.

This article is an extract from The Censoring Practices in Theatre: A Case Study of The Curtain Raiser by Wajiha Tareen.