And all the world's a stage
By Omar R. Quraishi

Lahorites got their annual dose of quality theatre (notwithstanding the trite fare they get to see the rest of the year by some very amateurish student productions) these past few weeks in the forms of the Third International Theatre and Dance Festival at the Alhamra Cultural Complex at Qaddhafi Stadium.

Around 45 theatre and drama groups in all took part in the festival that opened its doors to the public from November 12 to the 22nd. From outside Pakistan came artistes from places as diverse as Argentina, England, France, Germany, Nepal, the Philippines, Portugal, Hungary, Georgia, Egypt, Finland, the Czech Republic, Russia, Switzerland, Spain, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey, the US, Yugoslavia and Bangladesh. Apparently artistes from India had been invited but they could not get visas in time (so much for the two neighbours' promoting people-to-people contact).

Around 13 groups or individual artistes from Karachi, Islamabad and Lahore also took part. Some were known names like Sheema Kirmani and Khaled Ahmed's Tehrik-i-Niswan, Sohail Malik's Karachi Drama Circle, Nighat Chaudhry and Fasih-ur-Rahman, Naheed Siddiqui, Ajoka Theatre and the Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop. Another of Lahore's young and talented theatre directors, Zain Ahmed, was represented through the Cranes For Peace team. From Islamabad came the Saanjh Theatre Group that put up quite a one-man performance (see box) and should be a name to reckon with in the future. And the rest of the line-up was made up by Lok Rehas and Tamasha Theatre, both from Lahore.

The organizers also took the worthy step this time of inviting a host of young local talent to the festival. A group of artistes from LUMS (Bilal Sami, Bilal Murtaza Siddiqui and Hammad) brought their acclaimed play Art to the festival as did the NCA people who had not one but two acts. First, it was their Mime Club which gave some much-needed shock value to Lahore's generally-staid audiences, followed by the NCA puppeteers who had their own play Paani. Other local institutions that took part in the festival included University College Lahore, the Fine Arts Department of Punjab University, the Lahore College of Arts and Sciences, the Lahore Drama School, Backyard Productions and the Alliance Francaise Theatre Workshop.

Though it is beyond the scope of this writer to write about each and every performance, one thing has to be said and that is it's nothing short of a miracle that people from the private sector, with no government backing (the Royal Norwegian Embassy helped out partially as did several large multinational sponsors), can put up such a large cultural event. The organizational effort and the logistics alone are quite formidable tasks, let alone the running of the festival.

As for the content of the festival, the participation of the many student theatre groups (and these are the good ones we are talking about, not the usual run-of-the-mill stuff) is quite encouraging. In a society where most things cultural are either frowned upon or simply ignored (as the low turnout in the initial days would seem to suggest) such events are not only welcome but absolutely necessary so that people learn to look at the lighter side of things and regain their ability to laugh at themselves. And who doesn't want to get away from the monotony and pressures of living a middle-class life in an urban Pakistani city and to be transported away to some far-off make-believe land.

If one play stood out (at least as far as this writer is concerned) it would have to be Don Quixote by the Spanish group Bambelina Titelles. The famous novel by Miguel Cervantes has also been made into a Hollywood movie starring the enigmatic Tom Selleck. It is a story, like Rabelais's Gargantua and Pantagruel, of chivalry, insanity, delusions, unrequited love and nostalgia.