Tamasha theatre festival concludes

LAHORE: The 2nd International Tamasha theatre festival concluded with spectacular “Next Generation Showcase Performance” by a team of foreign and local artistes at the rooftop space in Institute for Art and Culture (IAC) on Sunday.

Nine international theatre activists collaborated with eight Pakistani performers and prepared three brief performances focusing on specific themes and showcased them with great passion which received standing ovation from the audience.

The participants from other countries who took part in Tamasha 2019 included Judith Gorgass (Germany), Delia Gavlitchi (Romania), Kelly Fielder (USA), Yun Hyejin (South Korea), Ishan Kulathilaka (Sri Lanka), Surangi Kosala Kumari (Sri Lanka), Marija Backovic (Montenegro), Obett Motaung (South Africa), Fredyl B. Hernandez (Philippine), Niclas Malmcrona (Sweden), Zang Ningbei (China) and Doris Fu (China).

Shoaib Iqbal, president ASSITEJ Pakistan thanked all the participants and said that the second edition of Tamasha festival had proved a bigger success with active participation by all performing teams. Theatre is one of the most effective medium of social change and such festivals are necessary to motivate the youth towards performing arts and constructive mindset. On the concluding day, total nine performances were presented. A private educational institute team highlighted the issue of bullying through their play, which greatly affects people by pushing them into depression, anxiety and self-esteem issue.

Veteran dance instructor Bina Jawwad brought together masters of dance storytelling for a unique show titled “Rang-e-Kainaat” in which artistes celebrated rich folk culture and heritage and performed for the love of art and freedom. The stunning dance performance was presented by Nighat Chaudhry, Adnan Jahangir and Hammad Rashid and it brought forth the message of love by using the poetry of mystic saints.

IAC theatre society performed their comedy play “Rail-Away Station” to a packed house in the auditorium. Other performances, including “Masty Family”, Laikhak (Journey of a writer) by UMT, Bhageshree Tarana in Jhap Taal and Fusion by Sunaina Khan and storytelling performance “Hathi ka Bucha” by Sadia Sarmed were also appreciated. Training workshops titled “Storytelling in Motion” conducted by Gillian Rhodes (USA) also received enthusiastic participation from the youth present at the festival.

IAC Vice-Chancellor Professor Sajida Vandal thanked the participants and said that IAC gives supreme importance to the promotion of new talent and celebrates multi-ethnic culture through performance and visual arts, which are universal expressions of human kind.