Psychosis The Play

On the eve of Friday the 21st of September, 2022 when the country’s capital was under political disharmony and chaos, a group of ambitious young artists gathered around 200+ people right in the heart of the city’s Red Zone. It was Day 2/4 of the event. This was a feat unimaginable to even the ones present there. The assemblage was that of art and celebration of theater - a celebration unlike any other. A testament to the perseverance of the human spirit and the lengths it would go to preserve its very nature of being indomitable.

All of this was a setup to showcase Sarah Kane’s lifework and to make people aware of the struggle she went through in her life. It was an attempt to revive theater culture in the twin cities, and this group of young talented artists couldn’t think of anything better than to perform Kane’s 4.48 Psychosis, a play that carries a very paradoxical creative capacity in terms of inspiring and upsetting its audience at the same time. It was a bold attempt to highlight the struggles of someone going through mental illness and how they see the world from a blurred lens. Ahmad Umer Ayaz of Qissa Khwani Theatrics - a company of Emlaak Marketing - adapted and directed the play in Urdu. This was the first-ever Urdu adaptation of the globally renowned play.

Ahmad Umer got the inspiration to adapt and perform this play in Pakistan during his time in Scotland at the Edinburg Fringe Festival while pursuing a Degree at the University of Edinburg in Modern Drama. He shared the idea with Emlaak Marketing, who wholeheartedly supported it by taking Qissa Khwani Theatrics under its group of companies. To perform the play on such a massive scale in Islamabad - where the Theater market has been down for a while now - was a herculean task but Emlaak Marketing and Qissa Khwani joined forces to achieve this feat and make history.

The turnout was outstanding as 3 out of 4 days were completely sold out with an audience of 400+ each day, and the only day it wasn’t a house-full was when the country was in the midst of political turmoil. Muhammad Arsalan, a graduate of NAPA (National Academy of Performing Arts) was the Assistant Director and acted as one of the lead characters alongside Mahnoor Khan Niazi and Jamal Habib. The other notable actors included Usman Shafique, Aleeza Rahim, Mahad Noor, Hassan Mujtaba, Hareem Raza, and Huzaifa Bajwa. Afraz Afridi (MD Emlaak Marketing) performed his duties as the Production Head and Muhammad Kamran Chaudhry (Chairman Emlaak Marketing) & Asfandyar Khan (CEO Emlaak Marketing) were the Executive Producers of the play.