Society: More Than Just Fun – Newspapers

In 2007, the Murk Theater Group staged a play on the importance of voting at a community hall in Hyderabad.

Halfway through the show, the audience caught the actors asking what they would do if they took their roles. The audience can also discuss their own problems and problems with the actors on stage.

Unbeknownst to the audience, they engage in interactive theater—an art form that breaks down the barrier between actor and audience, allowing, as the name suggests, interaction between the two. The audience was visibly moved as they left the performance.

For 20 years, Dr Asif Memon, 57, and his wife Kazbano, 42, have been entertaining audiences in Hyderabad with their Murk theater group. The couple has been performing plays on stage, in the streets and in the community.

A husband-and-wife duo in Hyderabad have been performing interactive theater for 20 years, and in the process starting important conversations about sociopolitical issues

The theater has had a presence in Sindh since before Partition. The Royal Theater Karachi was established in 1854 when Thomas Haynes’ melodrama The Soldier’s Bride was staged in Karachi. The play is performed by artists from the 83 troupes.

According to Dr. Muhammad Yousif Pahnwar’s book, Sindhi Natak Ji Tareekh, “In 1854, The Happy Man was also performed. After the Royal Theater was established, a trend towards dramatization started, Karachi Friends Society, Penny Reading and Drama Society, Ghost Legion Other drama groups like Drama Club, First Theater etc. gradually came into being. Battalion WR Drama Club. British Army officers joined these drama groups. People used to entertain themselves through drama.”

Dr Maymon is a screenwriter, actor and theater trainer who has been in the field since he was a young boy in 1980. He acted in plays in Radio Hyderabad and Pakistan Television (PTV), but after being admitted to Liaquat University of Medicine and Health Sciences (LUMHS), he chose to focus only on his education.

“After getting my medical degree, I set up a charity clinic in Hyderabad with the help of my friends,” he said. “I had a theater concept in mind. I thought that instead of lecturing people with disease, the message could be conveyed through theatre, which would have an impressive impact. In 1992, on the platform of the Murk Theater Group, I started Community theater on health-related issues.”

Both Dr. Memon and his wife Kazbano had drama training at Ajoka, Sheema Kermani, Lok Rahs Punjab and Interactive Resource Centre. Dr Memon also performed a play on sexism at the India-Pakistan Theater Festival in 2003.

Meanwhile, Kazbano has acted in more than 100 plays and trained as a director; she is now a senior director and actress.

“I do believe that it’s easier for me to train new actors than veteran artists who think they know everything about the stage,” says Kazbano. “Understanding the skills required to perform in interactive theater can take time. Performers should know that every gesture, every movement, even calm, has a specific meaning in theater.”

She also talked about the difference between TV dramas and stage plays. “For example, when an actor is on the stage, he cannot turn his back to the audience. The sound quality must be high. If the audience applauds during the performance, the actor should not stop performing,” she said. Say. “Everything backstage is my responsibility, including any issues that arise during the show.”

The couple sees theater and stage productions as good publicity platforms. Kazbano said it’s easier to convey a message in a short period of time through the medium of drama.

“It’s not just entertainment, it’s also about sociopolitical issues,” she added. “Other countries also have theater labs that provide performers with greater space by using modern technology. Social issues raise awareness through theater and the performing arts.”

The couple explained that they saw other groups perform purely for entertainment purposes, so they decided to focus their work on unique themes. They decided to perform a play about the indigenous heroes of Sindh. Previously, these characters had been portrayed in verse or prose, and they realized that without solid research it was impossible to write a play for them.

“Our Shaheed Shah Inayat show took a year to research and another six months to write the script,” explains Kazbano. The audience response to this was overwhelming. Dr Memon recalled how he met many young people in the audience at the end of the play who told him they had never known Shah Inayat’s rebellious nature; they thought he was “just a Sufi”.

Their troupe performs plays to raise awareness on issues ranging from health and hygiene to honor crimes, domestic violence, transgender rights and education. It has also acted in some international plays such as Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot in Hyderabad.

“Once we did a play in Larkana about honor killings, where a girl was killed,” Dr Memon said. “Although the show is based on true events, we decided to add some twists to the story. Larkana’s Deputy Commissioner was also in the audience. The next day, when Kazbano and I were reading the show’s review, we were at the same The page saw a story about the Deputy Commissioner of Larkana ordering a reopening of the case of a girl killed in an honor crime and asking the police to arrest all criminals involved in her murder.”

The couple was inspired by the interactive theater techniques of Augusto Baol, a Brazilian theater artist known for creating an immersive theater format in which the audience becomes the performer, performing way of solving the problem.

“The main purpose of the interactive theater is to let people know what’s going on in their minds, what their first reaction would be if any tragedy or event happened,” Kazbano said. “It creates space for questions of different minds. Interactive theater creates a way to re-examine people’s thinking.”

“We have seen many theater groups in Sindh, but they no longer exist because our arts cannot support the artists financially,” Dr Memon said. “As a doctor, I make a living from my job and I spend my money on my passion, but there are a lot of artists who depend on theater and they face financial problems. It’s challenging for them to continue.”

The couple did not want to seek any support from the government, but wanted to serve drama learners and would like to teach stage skills to the younger generation. Dr Memon has also designed courses in this area, from diploma level to postgraduate level. He has also written a book on theater development, which is forthcoming.

Despite all the obstacles, both husband and wife are committed to continuing the drama’s legacy.

“Theatre is a medium of consciousness that explores the creative capacity of the human mind,” says playwright and fiction author Hafeez Kumbar, who has worked as an actor and screenwriter alongside Kazbano and Dr Memon. “I believe it can untangle the mind. Artists like Dr. Maymon and Kazbano are challenging conventional norms.”

The author is a Sindhi fiction writer, blogger and journalist.

he can reach akhterhafez@gmail.com

Posted on Dawn, EOS, November 27, 2022