Theaterics, theaterics, theaterics!
They used to say Picture abhe baqi ha mere dost and I used to think about what a lame picture it’d be to begin with. Theaterics 2016 finally, finally, finally happened on the 9th of February 2016 and we have finally, finally, finally gotten around to write about it. Tssk. In my defence, I had a physics test. Which I’m pretty sure I failed anyway, but whatever.
I honestly don’t even know where to begin, but I’ll take the time out to say this: Whatever negative, or condescending, thing I have EVER said about Theaterics.. I take it all back. Every bit of it, every little microscopic part. To be honest: to say the event went really well is somewhat of an understatement.
The day started with someone telling me to reach the Habib University at 12 pm sharp, only to make me roam around the same place again.. and again.. and again. For you know, 3 hours. Only. Because of course I’d love to go round and round on the same spot for 3 hours - no biggie. Around 3pm, people finally started filling in, from the volunteers to the ADs to the participants, some taking selfies, to some taking even more selfies, to some who literally couldn’t stop taking selfies. And then we had some participants who very well couldn’t stop freaking out about! having! to! perform! on! the! freaking! stage! in! front! of! every! freaking! body! Honestly, though, there were around 200 people. Who wouldn’t be nervous?
We had Aysal Mehmood, Rida Siddiqui and Iman Sohail sitting on the front desk: where Iman was jotting down participants’ names and their play timings while simultaneously blessing everyone with her smile. Seriously. Iman Sohail smiling, as frequent as it is, is like getting to watch a rainbow up close. Sigh. Going inside the very, very, very huge (and very maze-like) (also, very confusing) building, we were ushered into the auditorium. Volunteers were posted on different doors and points, some doing their work a little too efficiently: sources have it one volunteer didn’t let Faraz himself pass through a doorway because “I’m under orders to not allow anyone to go through here”. Wow. Talk about dedication.
The ACTUAL event then initiated, with all the auditorium seats getting gradually filled up, with Dua Hamid and Arhum Soleja taking the stage and making various announcements. Hamza Ali was called upon for the Qur'anic recitation, and apparently he liked being onstage so much, he kept on coming back there throughout the entire event and waving his hands around like a lunatic. Really, Hamza: what were you even trying to do?! And, after all, of this meagre drama, we come to the main highlight of the event:
The PLAYS! Duh. What did you think it was gonna be? It’s a drama competition, man.
We had an amazing performance by some underprivileged kids from the Darul-Sukoon, which was amazingly presented and may or may not have made majority of the audience cry. Well. at least I did. It was so well-organized and the message, heart wrenching. (Don’t ask me what the message actually was. I’ve forgotten. But it was gr8.)
Going on, we had a number of plays from different teams, a prominent one was: Heer Ranjha which highlighted the tragic backstory of two lovers doomed by society and circumstances. Then we had a one on domestic abuse, how it happens and what it results in: it was definitely very, very emotional and may have made me cry like an absolute loser in front of like 58,584 people. (And it was written by Sara Tariq, from AS!) (I don’t know about you, but well done, man. It was so perfectly thought out and described!!)
Then came on a series of plays, from comedy to solemn; most of them with the most talented actors and amazing plotlines! Like, I’m honestly in awe here. Wow. Actual-freaking-wow. And you know what? Like 98% of my astonishment doesn’t even come from the plays being astonishing. It’s all from our beloved headboy Ismail Vohra choosing to sit next to me and updating me about all his controversial beliefs. I mean, I’m obviously not going to mention them here but… who.. made this guy head boy…. why… He had an opinion on every SINGLE thing that happened in every SINGLE play, pointing out the bad acting at times, to how he himself wanted to act out in a play but couldn’t. He also mentioned how girls are oh-so-hard to understand, and how he’d rather never be with a girl.. well Ismail, at least you still have Vinay.. right..?
And from where I stand, Vinay isn’t a bad choice for you at all, Ismail. Nope, not bad at all.
COMING BACK to the topic at hand (I’m sorry for the diversion but Ismail REALLY wanted to be mentioned here.. or something..), let’s talk about the biggest bestest highlight of this event that ANY event has ever seen. If you haven’t guessed yet, you must really have the brain capacity of a goldfish. YES, hello, I’m talking about the play ADAM & EVE over here.
With the participants from PAF Chapter itself, the play comprised of a beautiful story about Adam and Eve being created and Eve being led astray by the Devil via the seven cardinal sins. It went on to Adam fighting the demons and helping Eve finally overcome her transgressions.
To put it nicely: I don’t even have the words to describe how perfect it was. I can’t. （ ´థ౪థ）
And no, I’m not being biased because they’re my friends and I want a treat (but really, I do want a treat, guys).. but really.. their play was all the good things in life, it was a blessing by the god of the underworld himself, that play. I watched the whole thing unfold with my own eyes, and all I can say is: suddenly, my vision is clear, my acne is gone, my crops have flourished, I can hear colors, the poor are now rich, and the rich are now richer. Like, I can’t even believe I know these people in real life.
Dancing? Check. Co-ordination? Check. Amazing cast? Check. On-point music? Check. The best damned plot? Check. I wish I could drag them, but honestly I don’t even know what to drag them on. Let’s just take a moment of silence for them, their ingenuity (even though I’m pretty sure they stole the idea from somewhere) and their utter incapability of giving treats! It’s been a month and I’m still freaking waiting. Bhai, de bhi dooo..
The last performance was also from a team from our school: it was a serious drama about the very Purpose of Life. Some intended puns here and there in the play caused the audience to laugh out loud but by this time, everyone had left and the auditorium (which was already half empty) was reduced to only few patient PAFians. A speech by our Principal in his purest British accent gave the cue that the event was about to conclude. Next up, was our respected headmaster and Miss Naureen, whose remarks about how the event was successful enough not to be cancelled earned applause from all of the PAFians.
The three judges from NAPA were called next. And if you think you can call in some experts to judge and then expect them to appreciate your efforts, then you are very wrong. They criticized and criticized. From the handling of the mikes to the delivery of dialogues, everything was given a harsh judgment. The management team was scolded for not removing their ugly faces from the stage when the plays were going on. (Tssk, tssk Hamza). The puppet show in the start was termed not to be too puppet-ty. Mohammad Anas Bhaiyat (who later won the best actor) was criticized for clapping too much during his performance, which apparently distracted the judges. The drama on Shadi Ka Rona received the most backlash as it was ditto copied from one of Umar Sharif’s play (and they thought they could run away with that hmm!). The Heer from the Heer Ranjha was asked to stand up. She probably thought this to be her Oscar moment as her friend patted her on the back and she stood up proudly - instead it turned out to be the Miss Universe moment where instead of what was expected, she was snubbed big time. How dare she run around the stage when the play had started?!
“Yeh stage ki tauheen hoti hai.”
She slinked back in her seat and will probably never go within a 5 mile radius of a stage ever again. Sigh. Next the character from the last play “wo shalwar kameez main jo mullah tha!” had to suffer the wrath of the judge. Despite giving one the strongest performance in the play he was snubbed as being a “Sorryass!” (Quoting his exact words. I mean, seriously.).
Next the prestigious award of the Best Play was given to Adam and Eve (they deserved it for sure!),
...the Best actor to Mohammad Anas ,
..aaand the Best Actress to Ayesha Ibrahim (who started jumping frantically and hugged every other person she could find in her vicinity).
I'm so proud of you Ash, *lowkey has tears in eyes*
Then at the very end the whole management team, the volunteers and the actors were called on the stage for the mandatory photo session which was followed by the slogans of “Chepter Chepter”, “Cancel cancel”, and Chapter’s very own anthem “ale lo la ale lo la”.
We’d like to thank Faraz Haider for organizing such a wonderful event, like. You could SEE his hard work paying off with every second the event went on, and for me personally: I’m so happy it did! If anyone deserved such a glo-rious event, it’s probably him. SO. Thank you Faraz for all the dedication, thank you the entire Theaterics directorate and THANK YOU to our school management for helping in making this imagination become reality.
And, with that, Chapter’s very first successful event with all its months long hype, finally came to an end.
