The winds of peace are blowing in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi as the Pakistan National Council of Arts (PNCA) opened the stage play ‘Winds of Peace’ for the theatre lovers on Friday.
‘Winds of Peace’, a bilingual play that opened at the PNCA auditorium on Friday and would continue till Tuesday, January 11, brings a cheerful and much needed morale boost for the cities dwellers in a turbulent time, disseminating the importance of peace.
The play, adopted from Sidney Sheldon’s novel ‘Sands of Time’, has been scripted by Ayesha Kamal.
The play tells the story of Jaime Miro, a daring Basque “freedom fighter”, who proposes to rescue three of his band members from detention by the Spanish authorities. The plan succeeds but the Spanish government is determined that this challenge to its authority should not go unanswered. Consequently, Colonel Ramon Accoa, whose methods are more suited to the regime of Franco than to the new democratic Spain, is ordered to capture Miro at all costs. In pursuit of this objective, Accoa raids a Cistercian convent to intimidate the Spanish Church and thus prevent Miro from obtaining Church assistance.
Unfortunately for Accoa, four of the Cistercian nuns escape the roundup and take to the hills. On the run from the authorities, the nuns fall in love with Miro, and ‘Winds of Peace’ is off to a rousing start. As the terrorists evade the authorities, each of the nuns is forced to reexamine her past and the reasons why she entered the convent. Sister Megan, who was orphaned at birth and found a “family” in the convent, finds herself drawn to Miro; Sister Lucia, the daughter of a Sicilian Mafioso, dreams of a new future in the arms of a farmer turned terrorist; Sister Graciela, the abused daughter of a prostitute, finds herself torn between sensual love and her commitment to the religious life; and Sister Teresa, haunted by an ancient decision and confused by the sudden reentry into the secular world, is driven to betray the group.
The four girls who are abruptly forced to flee the secure environment of their convent and face a hostile world they had abandoned a long time ago. Suddenly the girls find themselves as pawns in a violent struggle between the outlawed Basque underground terrorist movement, led by the charismatic Jamie Miro and the army, under the command of vengeful Colonel Roman Acoca, who is bent on destroying all of them, obeying all orders given to him by his Devil. Megan, the orphan, would give anything to learn the identity of her parents. She fights against her overpowering attraction to the legendary and idealistic Jaime Miró. Lucia, the fiery Sicilian beauty, is wanted by the police, but risks her future and a fortune to save a dying revolutionary.
Even the serenity of the convent cannot wipe out Graciela’s nightmares of the past. How can she again face a world of carnal love? It is Teresa whose confused conscience finally drives her to seek help from Colonel Ramón Acoca, a terrible mistake that will betray her friends.
Produced by Farrukh Abbas Shah and directed by Raheel Khan Lodhi, the two-hour production, ‘Winds of Peace’, is an unforgettable adventure, told against the backdrop of the fascinating countryside of Spain. It combines history, romance, suspense and dances with the unexpected. Moreover, despite the suspenseful plot, the original writer of the play Sheldon injects much humour in his tale.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Farrukh Abbas said, “We aim to the time when the power of love will replace the love of power. Then this world would know the blessings of peace. We have no peace because we have forgotten that we belong to each other as peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through understanding.”
The audience, including a large number of youngsters, enjoyed the play while the weather made the evening even more pleasant for the theatre lovers.
The audience applauded the set design, discourse in English and Urdu and the script quality, costumes and the direction of the play as well.
Imran Khan was the narrator in the play while Megan played by Yumna, Lucia (Sadaf), Rubio (Ehtisham), Teresa (Kiran), Greciala (Tehseen), Col. Acoca (Tariq), Devil (Nabeel), Jaimi (Faisal), Ricardo Mellado (Adnan), Felix Carpio (Asad), Soldier (Danial), Thomas (Ayaz), Drunk Man (Zain), Mother Betina (Taskeen), Ampara Jiron (Sara), and Alan Tucker (Hasaan) made this theatre play a success.
‘Winds of Peace’ would be staged at the PNCA auditorium daily at 8:00pm, till January 10.
