KARACHI: After a successful run in Lahore, one of the biggest and promising theatre events of the year, Date Night is set to be performed at the Karachi Arts Council from August 18.
The crew of the hit musical comedy, Date Night, is all set to perform in Karachi and make your evenings a whole lot better.
The play stars are Shah Fahad, Waleed Zaidi, Shaan Lashari, Mahnoor Khan and Sheherzade Noor Peerzada.
Date Night is set in an expensive mini boutique hotel somewhere on the scenic side of England. The story revolves around two well off couples who go there for a weekend getaway, but get a surprise of their lifetime.
The play is extremely funny and fast paced, and will glue you to your seats and lift your spirits, as you delve into the story of romance and seduction.
The play is 1 hour and 22 minutes long and full of punch lines and amusing situations and includes three entertaining dance routines. All the actors who star in the play have a theatre experience of at least eight years. The cast of five and the director have over 100 performances between them on stage.
Date Night takes its script from Derek Benfield and has been adopted for the Pakistani audience in the form of a musical.
The play is a product of the rising duo Shaan Lashari and Dawar Lashari, who’ve returned to the stage after a short hiatus.
Previously, with hugely successful plays such as ‘Boeing Boeing (2009)’ and ‘Birdcage (2010)’, the pair has proven that they certainly have the talent and experience to put up quality productions that do not compromise on the aesthetics of theatre, and add credibility to the already set legacy of the Lashari family.
The main sponsor for the play is Fanta, along with other big names such as Careem, DolceVita, Kinetic, Sufi, Rose Petal and Oye Hoye.
Tickets are available at Espresso, Nueplex, Cinepax Ocean Mall, Agha’s, and all branches of McDonald’s.
Shows will run from the August 18 to 27, 2017.
‘ Spoilt ’ Date Night – A Musical Comedy
Returning back to Karachi after a decade of being away, I have been very eager to explore all the different directions my wonderful city has grown in to. Introducing old and new, to my husband who has never experienced life in Pakistan before, I feel responsible to shed light on the best offerings of Karachi.
Shunting away the idea that there is little entertainment on offer in Karachi, I hunt for new activities every weekend. This weekend I chose to introduce my better half to the theatre scene in Karachi. Choosing an English play Date Night hailing from Lahore, it seemed like a perfect date night for the two of us.
The ticket stated show time as 7:30 pm in the evening. A 90 minute play, that should have finished at 9 pm and we would be home in time, indeed a bit late though but to get our little ones from their grandparents on time for a bed time story and cuddle in bed. We arrived at 7:10 pm, 20 minutes earlier on the recommendation of my brother in law who informed us that seating is open and on first come basis. Keeping ourselves busy with crowd watching and music waited. 7:30 pm and the auditorium was not crowded enough and I assumed perhaps local fancy cinemas have taken over as the entertainment of choice for our Karachi audience.
As the clock passed the stated start timing of the show more and more people started pouring without any conscience of being late. I don’t know who to blame, the people who entered shamelessly late or the organizers who allowed them in. By 8:10 pm, some civilized person who had arrived on time, let go of her civility and shouted out “Can we please have the show started”. Another 5 minutes later and full 45 minutes delayed the lights dimmed and the show began. Under the protocol of Arts Council of Karachi, the National Anthem was played and everyone requested to stand up. Ahead of me I noticed two young men not just shamelessly sitting while the entire auditorium was up, but also kept on talking. I these Pakistani gentlemen with were too cool to participate in an a school like practice such as this. Where as somewhere along the row, a Caucasian man accompanied by an Asian woman decided to pay respect to our anthem.
By now the play finally started, and the organizers continued allowing people in who marched up and down the isles and rows to find place to sit. Spoiling the view of all others who had attempted the grave mistake of arriving early enough to find seats. 10 minutes into the play, the eager audience who were unable to find a seat, decided that auditorium stairs were good enough and made themselves comfortable right there. While another 5 to 8 were alright watching while standing on the entrance stair case. By now I had myself shouted out loud asking them to settle down. I did feel bad to distract the actors on stage but the auditorium was already so noisy I am sure nobody even noticed.
After all this chaos, whatever happened on the stage was not going to impress us much. The initial bad start had left us in a sour and judgmental mood. I don’t know if it was the over acting of the actors on stage, or simply the acts of our social behavior in real life that made the rest of the play so cringe-worthy for us. I usually don’t like to point out flaws in performances as I know how much hard work goes in to putting an act like this together. However just a few things that could have made it better. If the performer was not willing to bare her legs, the wardrobe designer should have provided a long dress rather than trying to trick us with 80’s era Anjuman styled skin color tights that did not even match her skin tone and created a very uncomfortable sight. The tonality of dialogue delivery was reminiscent of our colonial past and if I were to close my eyes, with over the top Darrrling!!! Ending every sentence. I thought perhaps I should have chosen an Urdu play instead.
After 40 minutes into the play, my very own Darlingggg suggested we make a move as we could no longer take it anymore and would rather not miss our snuggle time with our kids. I thought it would be rude to walk out in front of live performers, but by then we had realized that rude behavior was a very open ended matter here. I don’t want to blame the performers. Maybe we would have sat through the whole thing if the show would have started on time. It was the organizers, who were greedy enough to fill up the auditorium beyond its capacity and spoil the entire experience for us.
Date Night shamefully spoilt for us. I would choose a movie experience at Nueplex anytime, at least they start on time and don’t over sell.
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