From love to war, NAPA's performing arts festival has a play for every theme

NAPA's sixth edition of the International Performing Arts Festival is kicking off tomorrow.

The festival, which will feature theatre, music and dance performances, will feature over 20 performances by groups from Italy, France, Germany, Iran, Sri Lanka and Australia during its three week. Of course, a number of diverse Pakistani plays in Urdu, Sindhi, Punjabi, and Balochi will also be performed at the fest.

The performances will cover a wide range of genres, from classical to experimental and also explore pressing current issues related to war, fascism, migration, and gender.

Some performances like Mureed-e-Shak, an adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, Raaz-o-Niaz, a dark satire about marriage, and Court Martial, a play that exposes the class system in South Asia, are being rehashed -- but we hope this time there's perhaps something new to offer within those plays, like a new vision or a different perspective.

There are also a few that we are looking forward to, like the critically acclaimed Oh My Sweet Land, which is set against the horrific carnage of the war in Syria; The Playlist, a German-Pakistan collaboration that is an investigation and meditation on torture in Guantanamo Bay and the use of music in the abuse of the human body and soul. Some Days Ago shows us the romantic lives of women in Iran, a side of life little seen by outsiders.

Interestingly, there are plays about women in several languages, like Balochi play Dottok-e-Lug, an adaption of Henrik Ibsen’s The Dollhouse which transplants the story of a woman’s rejection of her oppressive marriage to contemporary Balochistan; Punjabi play Bari, which focuses on four very different women behind bars for refusing to bend before an unforgiving society; and Urdu play Heer which retells the classic Heer Ranjha story from a feminist perspective.

For music lovers there is a collaboration between Italian musicians Cantus Animae and Pakistan’s Sounds of Kolachi called Journey, which connects the poetry of Italian poet Dante and Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai. NAPA music faculty will hold a tribute to musical icons Nayyara Noor and Arshad Mahmud.

Tickets for adults are for Rs600 and for students Rs300. The festival will go on till the 31st March.