LAHORE: The dramatics society of the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Dramaline, hosted its annual intra-varsity theatrical competition ‘Skit Tamasha’ on Sunday the 3rd of December 2017.
This year, the theme followed was ‘Pop Art’, and had a total of 6 skits varying in genre from comedy to tragedy. The event was headed by members of the executive council, Alina Zuberi and Syed Taha Sarfraz Hussain. When asked about the purpose of this event, they said: “Skit Tamasha is an event that gives a chance to students who like to direct, act and choreograph. More importantly, it’s an event that brings the society and the students together.”
Skit Tamasha’17 started off with a mystifying skit, ‘Dreams’ that depicted a series of dreams that a soldier suffering from PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) was having. The second skit, Tabdeeli, told the story of power and its corrupting nature as it depicted the protagonist’s transition from a candid revolutionary to a conniving politician. Another skit ‘The Perfect Crime’ was a political narrative and told a very compelling story of an influential politician caught up in a murder case and the lengths to which he was willing to go to, to hide his crime.
Another skit ‘Dramalife Talent Hunt’, prompted hilarious one-liners and quips that had everyone in the room laughing. This skit was followed by ‘The Morning After’, which aptly relayed a very important message about depression and the stigma that is unfortunately attached to mental health issues in society.
Skit Tamasha concluded with a very strong performance by the cast of ‘Fasaad’. This skit revolved around the story of a boy who vowed to never be like his deadbeat father, yet realizes, in his later years of life, that he has subconsciously become exactly like his father.
To crown the winners, LUMS Dramaline invited Waleed Rana, a member of the band ‘Naqsh’, an avid member of the social theatre circuit and Ali Zafar, a LUMS alumnus who was the general secretary productions at Dramaline last year.
The overall winners were ‘The Morning After’ for Best Play, Best Actress (Farwah Abbas Bangash), Best Supporting Actress (Eman Tufail Arbab) and Best Script (Ayesha Lari).
‘Dreams’ won several awards, including Best Director (Syed M Murtaza), Best Actor (Ahmad Kamran) and Best Tragedy. Best Supporting Actor went to ‘Tabdeeli’ (Moeed Khawar) and Best Comedy went to ‘Dramalife’.
