Sameer Afzal
There is no stronger medium of human interaction in the field of visual entertainment than theatre.
Over the past three decades Ajoka Theatre Pakistan has produced over four scores of plays elucidating social plight of an everyday Pakistani. This plight is sometimes showcased through the a series of dialogues and dance numbers and sometimes through an entire play. This plight encompasses the strong need of social reformation and the best way to engage, a rich palate of audience regardless of class (religious or financial) difference is to invite them to a play, by them and for them and tell them to revise their actions and become more aware of the atrocities going around them.
Ajoka theatre Pakistan stages plays that are most critical for the time. These performances take place in streets and public spaces to posh public and private auditoriums, nevertheless the troupe maintains its stance as a theatre group of people and upholds it strongly by producing free of cost performances that are viewed by both ruling governors and rickshaw drivers sitting in the same hall attending the same performance. A recent production Kabeera Khara Bazaar Mein by Ajoka theatre was once again well received by the masses, despite her recovering health the founder and creative director of Ajoka Theatre Ms. Madeeha Gauhar introduced the need to revisit and reinforce the strong spiritual message of Sufi saints. The play by Bisham Sahani encompassed the life of the Sufi saint Bhagat Kabeer and once again strengthened the idea of following the religion of humanity over the religion of beliefs. The play included the character singing multiple verses of Bhagat Kabeer and so the audience was reminded of Ajoka’s play Bullah written by Shahid Nadeem. The audience found the story of Bhagat Kabeer short told as many had already viewed the multiple successful stagings of Nadeem’s Bullah. Bullah as a play is stronger in the context of its elaborate and most descriptive description of Bullah Shah’s life, the latter also includes multiple folklores of the Sufi saint’s life to which many to date can relate. The audience interestingly found a stark similarity of diction in poetry used by Bullah Shah and Bhagat Kabeer and rejoiced the universality of Sufi messages of establishing a humane, just, equal and secular society. An amalgamation of live qawali, dance and sturdy dialogue plays by Ajoka are indeed an utter gastronomic delight for one’s senses.
The aesthetic, social, moral and political reality of today’s Pakistan are therefore repeating themes, one being the ever returning subject of social equality in a society that is now greatly dominated by religious fanatics.
Plays by Shahid Nadeem can rightly be categorized as play of the genre of the Theatre of Protest. Nadeem who himself is influenced by his voracious reading of Bertolt Brecht and Augusto Boal writes for the socially oppressed masses of Pakistan. This oppression is unique to its own affair. This oppress is imposed on Muslims and non-Muslim minorities and these minorities are not religious minorities, but anyone who opposes the current scheme of affairs be it social, political, or religious find himself to be part of a minority. Such minority includes both governors and governed masses.
Ajoka takes the stage and reinforces the need to strongly hold on to our folk heritage and sometimes yelps the need to return back to the social, scientific and spiritual morals preached by our own Sufi saints; whatever you see on stage plays performed b Ajoka theatre and written by Shahid Nadeem are indeed special craft exclusively meant for both local audiences to grasp the importance and strength of our indigenous theatre and to shatter global stereotypes against Pakistan.
Nadeem’s work as a writer has already reached the global market with National Theatre London, adapting Nadeem’s play Dara, based on the troubled life of the true heir to the peacock throne of Delhi. Emperor JahanGir’s eldest son and brother to the tyrannical Emperor Aurenzeb; Prince Dara Shikoh was a warrior poet and his Sufi writings showcase his enlightened vision for a secular state.
Nadeem as a writer is being translated and worked upon in academic sectors. It is high time that works of Nadeem and performances of Ajoka be given its due share, the dearth of critical material on Nadeem’s work is still baffling and only contributes to the negative global perception against Pakistan. We need to own our own writers and contribute in strengthening their vision that ultimately alters our image.
