NAPA to re-organise a play named ‘Art’

By Shahid Abbasi Apr 24th, 2012 ( No Comment )

Karachi: National Academy of Performing Art (NAPA) is re organizing a theater entitled ‘Art’ for ten days as a part of NAPA Repertory Theatre (NRT).

This was announced by the NAPA Artistic Director and Head of Theater Rahat Kazmi while addressing a press conference held here at NAPA on Monday.

Kazmi stated that this play is very interesting owing to it was the play of students and students we have produced are remarkable pass out.

He said that the play was translated by Samina Nazir and Tariq Sidiqui, the character of the play is Adnan Jaffar, Fawad Khan, and Munsoor Ahmed. Samina Nazir is also the director of the play and all persons of play are the alumni of NAPA, he added.

NRT an annual activity, the primary aim of the NRT is to promote an appreciation for professional theatre in all its manifestations. By staging plays regularly, the company hopes not only to develop a theatre going habit among the local populace but also to motivate writers to turn their attention to writing exclusively for the stage and to creating drama that reflects the complexities of life and the society in which we live.

Art, the playwright Yasmina Reza is an Iranian born French national who writes in French. When her play was produced in Paris it received such rave reviews that it was soon after translated into English. The play has since been staged in England and America to wide acclaim.

The story of the play revolves around three friends, one of whom is well-off, the other is an intellectual and the third is a lower middle class struggling-for-survival individual.

The play opens with the rich friend buying a painting at an exorbitant price. He shows it to his intellectual friend with pride. The painting is merely a white canvas with no color or lines. The intellectual friend is completely unimpressed and declares the painting to be a hoax. This leads to an argument between the two friends which end in bitterness. The third friend tries to be diplomatic to keep the friendship alive but, as often happens in life, once the process of unravelling starts, it follows its natural course to disaster. The painting in this context is merely a ruse to expose the meanness we all carry inside us.

It is pertinent to mention here that theaters would be showcased at Arts Council of Pakistan Karachi Auditorium from May 4 to 13.