Ajoka Theater two-day theater performance concludes at PNCA

ISLAMABAD, Apr 22 (APP):Ajoka Theater two-day theater performance concluded here at at Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA) with famous play “Charing Cross,”.
The performance was organized by Ajoka Theater in collaboration with the German Embassy and Pakistan National Council of the Arts (PNCA).
During two-day performance two-plays “Chaak Chakkar” and “Charing Cross” were presented by Ajoka Theater at PNCA auditorium.
The audience highly praised the performance of the Ajoka Theatre artists including Naeem Abass, Sohail Tariq, Hina Tariq, Usman Raaj, Qaiser Khan, Nabeel Butt, Luke Kelvin, Bilal Mughal, Fahad Ali, Shagufta Saleem, Muniba, Tazeem John, Ali Haider, Fahad Ali, Rohaib Christopher, Tazeem, Asad, Shahzad, Ali, Kamran and Thomas.
The play Charing Cross progressed in a chronological order and included important political events in Pakistan’s history, starting from independence and taking the audience through the journey of the past 70 years, in approximately two hours.
The stage was set with the white pavilion at the center, and all the action happening around it.
Dance and poetry were used throughout the play, stimulating the audience to think. With so much information to convey, the actors were very strategically used as metaphors to represent different types of people and ideas within the society.
Charing Cross,” the story of the play was centered around the area in Lahore known by the same name. Once functioning as the central point of the city, Charing Cross is recognized for its historical significance as a venue for protests and rallies; it was a common point for different people to gather and express their sentiments.
During two-day performance Ajoka also presented its play “Chaak Chakkar”. Chaak Chakkar is an Urdu adaptation of Brecht’s celebrated play, “The Caucasian Chalk Circle”. Originally premiered in 1948, the play is a great example of Brecht’s “Epic Theatre”.
It is a parable about a maid servant of the rich ruler who takes care of the royal baby, abandoned by his mother while running away after being overthrown.
The story was based on a Chinese legend and placed in the Soviet Union around the end of the World War II.
Brecht uses the legend to present the question of social ownership and the greed and selfishness of the capitalist society.
In Shahid Nadeem’s Urdu adaptation, the story is placed in the period of political upheavals during the fall of the Mughal Empire in India. The central character is Rano, the maid, who rescues Subedar Akharzai’s baby boy and looks after him despite her poverty and the adverse security situation, even sacrificing the love of her fiancé.