The director talks about his upcoming production and whether it holds any resemblance to Shah Sharabeel’s ongoing play Twins Apart that takes inspiration from the same play.
Lahore-based thespian Dawar Lashari, who enthralled audiences in Lahore and Karachi with his last theatre production Date Night (2017), is returning to stage with Blood Brothers. It is an adaptation of Willy Russell’s play of the same name that follows the story of twin brothers who are separated atbirth.
“It is an English play; a musical with live singing, rotating sets and dance routines,” he told Instep in an exclusive conversation. “It is about twin brothers who were separated at birth and are bound by a prophecy that the day they will know they are brothers, they will die. As they grow up, they become friends and get along well with each other. The plays unfolds if they will ever know the truth or not.”
Dawar informed that the play will premiere on February 28 at Alhamra Mall Road, Hall No 1, Lahore, and will run till March 10. It will also head to Karachi but towards the end of this year.
Presently, Shah Sharabeel’s play, Twins Apart that also takes inspiration from Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers is running at the Karachi Arts Council.
When asked what made Dawar launch the play around the same time, he responded, “It is a huge coincidence to be honest. I have visited London a few times where my brother used to study and has a business. Both of us watched the original play there and were inspired by it. That’s how we are doing it.”
“Both of us [Sharabeel and I] are doing completely different versions of it,” he added. “He is doing a complete adaptation in which he has turned it into an Urdu play and taken it very close to Pakistani audience as per how they can relate to it. Comparatively, I am doing a version which is much closer to the actual play; the genre is similar and a lot of other things are in line with the original London based western production. It is good that the audience gets to see a similar concept being shown by two different production houses in two different languages. It will be an interesting thing to see; I am actually excited about it.”
We have seen Sharabeel’s version. Let’s see what Dawar has in store for us and if the two are even comparable.
