Plays that have previously been performed by Pakistani artistes in India generally revolve around social issues or are biopics, which have over time become clichés in Pakistani theatre plays.
The National Academy of Performing Arts’ (Napa) latest mascot, Stumped!, is perhaps the most unique and timely theatrical export from Pakistan to India in recent times.
By performing Stumped! in India, Napa is certainly going to change the way Pakistani theatre is perceived in the country. After all, it’s an original Pakistani play about cricket that will be performed in Kolkata, home of the Eden Gardens, a cricket ground that holds a memorable place in the history of Pakistani cricket.
The performance will be a part of the third international festival dated April 18 till April 24, which is organised by Kalindi Bratyajon, a leading theatre troupe in India.
“Well, everything about Pakistan and India is complicated, except Google adverts” says Imran Yusuf, who wrote the play in English, which was later translated in Urdu by Napa graduate Fawad Khan.
“But I’m delighted that Stumped! is going to Kolkata. What did Jinnah say? Something to the tune of having Bengal (East Pakistan) without Calcutta (present-day Kolkata) is like asking a man to live without his heart. Anywhere with a ground called Eden Gardens is going to be soul stirring,” he says.
Stumped! takes place inside the dressing room of the Qabristani cricket team, which is all set to play against India in the World Cup final. Things start to change when the captain attempts to grease the palm of the youngest and most passionate player of the team. The manoeuvre is interjected by an experienced Pashtoon all rounder, who serves the role of a moral compass in the dressing room.
Zain Ahmed, the director of the play, looks at Stumped! differently. He believes that a play like Stumped! fulfils the urge to tell our own stories, which is something that can’t be done with translations and adaptations.
“Stumped! in a very strong way tells our story,” Ahmed says. “Everyone thinks that the Pakistani cricket team is very corrupt, but what they don’t know is that it comprises youngsters with limited exposure to the world. When they are suddenly thrown into this big world with a lot of temptation, they become clueless. And temptation is not just a Pakistani problem.”
Yusuf spends most of his time in London, but is presently working on a new play in Pakistan. He will not be staying back to join Napa’s team in Kolkata, but is optimistic that the Napa Repertory Theatre (NRT) actors will play well.
“I want Stumped! to go anywhere it’s wanted. With our players, who are the most charismatic in the world, excluded once again from the Indian Premier League, players of the NRT will remind our Indian sisters and brothers that cricket without Pakistan is a party without music,” maintains Yusuf.
The cast of the play comprises Napa graduates Sunil Shankar, Rauf Afridi, Hamad Khan and Bakhtawar Mazhar, with a guest appearance by Hamad Sartaj.
The performance of Stumped! in India comes at a time when discussions about the possible monopolisation of cricket by the ‘Big Three’, comprising the English, Australian and Indian cricket boards, is on the cards.
With the Pakistani cricket board having shown serious reservations over the formation of ‘Big Three’, will Stumped! play a part in addressing this ongoing cricket conundrum?
“I don’t think members of big cricket boards go to the theatre. They are too busy eating peanuts at their seven star hotel bars. The play has no agenda. We just want to put bums on seats, make the owners of these bums laugh, cry and wonder, and send them out in satisfied silence,” says Yusuf.
“And if, a week or month or year later, while they’re doing the dishes, something about the play strikes up in their imaginations, we are all going to theatre heaven.”
Published in The Express Tribune, February 5th, 2014.
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