Glitches mar day one of LUMS Dramafest

The Drama Fest 2011, organised by the LUMS’ Dramaline Club, started its first day with fervour and enthusiasm, as students from almost every school in the city flocked together on the campus, waiting impatiently for it to start. After a wait of two hours – no less – the show began. It was not very inspiring, and there were several glitches, especially in the sound, which was immensely high in treble and therefore painful, and the fact that it kept disappearing during the middle of a dialogue was perturbing, but the effort by these amateur stage artists was indeed laudable. The very first performance was marred completely by the terrible sound. This strange performance was followed by a short performance on the ik-tara, a stringed folk instrument. This was interesting to listen to and the crowd quieted down but before we knew it the performance had ended.
The most interesting performance was by Beaconhouse National University. BNU employed a spectacular and refreshing form of theatre where a girl’s shadow expresses her inner most emotions. The shadow technique was executed by making a girl perform in front of the stage, with another (taller) girl mime out her actions backstage against the light. The translucent backdrop provided just the right amount of light filtering through to make the shadow stand out while some great rock and soul music defined the different moments in the story.
Another play by the Lahore Grammer School’s girl’s section (101) was also interesting to see, as it had no males, and had women acting as the male characters. This was done exceptionally well, complete with make-up and body language both. It is not easy to act as the opposite sex, and then also build characters through this performance but the LGS girls managed to do so quite amusingly well.
The drama fest is to follow on Saturday and Sunday, and college and university groups from all over the country are to take part in this competition, with results being announced on Sunday. Judges include veteran TV actress Shahnaz Sheikh, and Asar and Zoha.