LAHORE: A two-day event, called the Comic Conference 14, came to an end on Sunday in Lahore. A troupe of young, talented and witty actors performed at Alhamra Arts Council, gathering an audience of hundreds— making it a house-full. The one and half hour-long show was divided in various segments: prepared, situational and improvisational comedy.
It featured a short satirical skit called “Qanoon-e-Hadd-e-Jawani”( Law on Limitations of Adulthood), which was predicated upon a fictitious law passed by the legislature to put a ban upon the youngsters on performing and observing certain acts. The underlying idea of the skit was to highlight the effects of excessive parental control, since the scenes included parents in favour of the law on one hand, and their children on the other.
Improvisational comedy happened to be the distinguishing feature of the comic conference. It engaged the audience to give certain starting scenarios or place the actors in certain roles of their own choices. The performers, in small and changing sets, then continued and improvised to create new scenarios with a tinge of humour.
The star performer and the head of project Pakistan Tehreek-e-Comedy (PTC), Ali Ahmed Khan, gave laughing shocks to the audience when he imitated various renowned celebrities in different hypothetical settings.
He also imitated Tariq Aziz, a famous host of the show called Tariq Aziz Show, and interacted with the audience while impersonating the latter.
A comic ‘mushaira’ (poetic symposium) was also a part of the performance. A member in the audience proposed ‘Ludo’ (a board game) to be the subject of it. The actors’ impromptu poetry on the subject highlighted their natural talent and sense of humour.
The performers included Ali Ahmed Khan, Sarmad Aftab, Aarzoo Fatima, Zain Qazi and others.
PTC is a project of DRAMA-ED, or Drama Education, which was established in 2011. They have staged seven original plays so far. A few of the most famous ones includes “From the Bottom of My Art” and “Akkar Bakkar” among others.
Drama-ED has also collaborated, in more than fifty productions, with various educational and performing arts institutions of the country since its birth.
While talking to Pakistan Today, the founder and creative director of Drama-ED, Shah Fahad, said, “We have a vision to revive and re-establish the culture of performing arts in the country. Drama-ED aims to fill the vacuum created by the downfall of comedy-dramas in Pakistan, and provide a quality entertainment to the people.
This was their farewell show of the ongoing year.