Literature enthusiasts explore four milestone European plays

Literature enthusiasts gathered at the Arts Council of Pakistan’s (ACP) library on Thursday to discuss four major European plays that are considered milestones in the evolution of drama.

Although the event was independent of the World Culture Festival being held at the ACP, it complemented the festival well, as most of its offerings have been plays.

The gathering was presided over by journalist Ghazi Salahuddin, and moderated by Tazeen Erum, who had invited four students of MPhil in English, each of whom was to speak on one of the four plays. The event was conducted under the auspices of the Writers & Readers Café, managed by Dr Tanveer Anjum.

The first play discussed was Henrik Ibsen’s masterpiece, A Doll’s House, which is set to be staged in the culture festival on Sunday. The play continues to hold relevance and is widely performed, despite being written nearly 150 years ago in 1879.

The speaker, Anushka Naveed, said that A Doll’s House was a milestone in the realist movement in theatre. She noted that characters similar to the play’s Nora and Helmer are present everywhere around us, as the rules of marriage continue to be defined by the husband, while the wife is expected to remain completely subservient.

She explained that the drama taught her that disrespect and over-expectations can destroy any relationship. Commenting on the theme of equality between men and women, she said that while women may be physically weaker than men, as ordained by God, this does not imply that they are also intellectually and emotionally weaker.

Her remarks, however, did not receive approval from some audience members, who felt that women should not be described as weak in any regard. It seemed that the speaker’s view of women’s physical weakness did not align with the high feminist ideals held by those audience members.

Summing up the discussion, Salahuddin remarked that A Doll’s House depicted the changing nature of Scandinavian society at the time and how women were beginning to become aware of their rights.

The next speaker, Sajjad Hameed, chose to discuss Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, written in 1903. He said the play’s foremost theme is the inevitability of change and the tragic consequences for those who fail to prepare for it.

He explained that the play illustrates the downfall of a Russian autocratic family and the rise of the lower strata of society, as one of the characters, Lopakhin, whose ancestors served the autocratic family, is able to buy the estate, including the cherry orchard, from his former masters.

The speaker also discussed the biographical elements in the play, noting that Chekhov modelled many characters on people he actually knew.

A disagreement arose between Hameed and Dr Anjum regarding the character of Trofimov, who appears to embody revolutionary Marxist ideals. Hameed argued that Trofimov was all talk and no action, reminding him of individuals in our society who can discuss for hours in an air-conditioned room about how a revolution can be achieved.

Dr Anjum, however, interpreted Trofimov as someone genuinely troubled by the flaws in the system, heralding the revolution that would come to Russia in the following years.

In response to a question, the moderator said that The Cherry Orchard should not be classified as a realist play; rather, it fits the category of naturalist play. She explained that in naturalist plays, the depiction of class dynamics and cultural norms is more significant than a realist representation of human interactions.

The third play discussed was Italian Nobel laureate Luigi Pirandello’s Six Characters in Search of an Author. Due to its fragmented plot and absurdist elements, it proved challenging to address within the limited time available.

The speaker, Mahnoor Baloch, informed the audience that the play is considered metatheatre because it features a play within a play. She explained that the opening scene shows a director and some actors rehearsing another play when suddenly six characters arrive.

It is revealed that these six characters are not real individuals but pure creations born from the imagination of an author. However, the author who created them did not incorporate them into any literary work, which was why they were in search of an author who could employ them.

The speaker noted that the play explores the theme of illusion versus reality, as the dialogues of the six characters not only confuse the other characters in the play but also the audience. These characters insist that they are more real than the physical actors because they are unchangeable and unaffected by time.

Salahuddin remarked that Pirandello’s play is considered a precursor to the Theatre of the Absurd movement, which began with Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot.

The final talk focused on French author and philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit, delivered by Wajid Hussain. He provided a detailed introduction to Sartre’s existentialist world view before discussing the play and its existentialist themes.

He explained that the play features just three major characters who have been sent to hell after death. However, this particular hell is merely a room, not a place filled with fire.

The play takes an intriguing turn as the three characters converse with one another, each unable to endure the company of the other two. It is then, said the speaker, that Sartre writes his famous line: “Hell is — other people.”

He remarked that the theme of self-awareness through the eyes of others is further explored by the absence of mirrors in that hell, meaning the three characters can only discover how they appear by asking the other inmates.