ast summer, the National Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA) organized the Young Director’s Festival (YDF), showcasing the work of fresh alumni, students, and alumni who were still in the very early stages of their careers. One of the standout performances had been Namukammal, written and directed by the very talented Hasnain Raza, which impressed in production and sound design, and showed great depth of thought for an artist still so young.

In the previous week, Raza and his co-director Moazzam Malik staged a very casual performance of Vasl, a brief, 30-minute-long play based on adaptations of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, and Vikramaditya Motwane’s 2013 film Lootera, which in part had been adapted from O. Henry’s short story The Last Leaf.

With all this complex context in place, the story actually unfolds rather seamlessly onstage. Dismissing the original sources, the theatrical piece seemed to move forwards and backwards in time, with both the cinematic storyline and the theatrical one complementing each other easily.

What helped for sure were the talented Umeza Irfan as Mariyam/Nina and Syed Qasim Shah as Michael/ Konstantin.

Syed Qasim Shah was last seen in Ullu Aur Billi, and was infuriating as the self-righteous, ultimately abusive Sharafat. In Vasl, the actor drives between his two roles without effort, projecting the rage and confusion of both characters with precision, communicating their tenderness just as effectively.

Umeza Irfan, with the timid opening her first character has, truly blossoms onstage, veering between pitiable and furious, seductive and heartbroken with equal ease. Of course, the direction by Moazzam Malik, “a cinephile,” as Hasnain Raza describes him, and Raza’s own direction bring two different but parallel styles to stage. Raza also did the sound and light design for the production, which added a richness that a mere musical accompaniment cannot.

At the end of the performance, Malik and Raza addressed their audience, “we did this experimental piece because we wanted to, but mostly because we could, and we wanted you to see that you can too.

“You might never have all the resources you need to create art, you might not have the funds, or support, or even interest: all you have to do is get out there, make theater, and put it up.”

On this particular day, performance was delayed by about 40 minutes, because the parts of the set that required fixing were not up, and were hammered and assembled together as the potential audience waited outside. The production itself was put together in six days, and it would be quite cool to see what comes up if the two directors dedicate a bit more time and resources to create a full-fledged play on the same format.