here is something surreal about theatre — both for the actors and the audiences. Further, replace a big auditorium with a living room, chairs with floor cushions and bring the actors at a palpable distance, and bang — you have a unique experience, unlike any other kind of visual entertainment; no retakes, no cuts, no second chances; just pure raw acting. And this is exactly what Ali Junejo’s latest play, Both Sit in Silence for a While, offered the audience — an unforgettable hour of their lives.

Performed on three nights at OLO Junction in Muslim Town, Lahore, the one-act, original English language play was written and directed by Junejo who also played the main lead alongside Rasti Farooq. Kanwal Khoosat was the co-producer and production designer.

The play brought to life a young married couple who realised that their marriage must end. But, given their busy lives, they could not seem to decide who will look after their daughter. After acknowledging the nonexistence of external family support, they found common ground in putting up their daughter for adoption.

The beauty of the script was that while the situation remained morose and grim, the audience often got a chance to laugh, as together the two characters came up with a ‘perfect’ script for potential adopters. The play was a dark comedy assisted by a punchy script that made each dialogue effortless yet purposeful.

That said, even the best of scripts may lose lustre on the wrong tongues. Thankfully, this wasn’t the case with Both Sit in Silence for a While. Farooq and Junejo played their parts very well. Farooq’s voice range is phenomenal. It hit all kinds of chords in one go. She was mesmerizing in the way she went from ‘talking’ to arguing to shouting and back to her calm self within mere moments. Junejo’s dialogue delivery was so natural that it blurred the boundaries of drama and reality throughout the 60 minutes of the play.

Junejo and Farooq represented a couple at their absolute worst; they were two people who couldn’t speak to each other for two minutes without the conversation spiralling into a heated argument. Somehow we were shown the softer side of a marriage in small, subtle ways, as Farooq heated the pizza for Junejo, or as Junejo iced her wounded finger, and how in the middle of their arguments Junejo seemed concerned about Farooq’s schizophrenic sister.

Both Sit in Silence for a While, a project of Khoosat’s Olomopolo Media, highlights dysfunctional relationships, mental health, abortion rights and marriage

Marriage is one of the most complicated relationships, and this play elucidated that in a way most dramas, movies and theatre plays would fail to. Among the play’s highlights was the point where their fight reached a crescendo — both in terms of emotions and volume — and one was left wondering how they had ended up in the situation and why they got married in the first place. Suddenly, they snapped into different characters and within a few minutes the audience realised they were now in the past. At this point, Junejo not so much but Farooq actually looked much younger. Her eyes shone bright with possibilities and her entire demeanour changed into one of a little girl: indecisive and showing a naivety that borders on irresponsibility.

The play came round full circle in the last scene when we were shown how the daughter being put up for adoption was the result of a careless night, how the basis for the marriage remained far from love and commitment, and how the problems that were present before the marriage and the people we are before we tie the knot is what will stay. Problems do not disappear with a marriage and people do not change.

Another admirable aspect of the play was the masterful use of lighting. As the audience entered, the set was dark except for the top-down white lighting in the centre where they performed. The white light hardened their expressions and aged their faces making them seem worn out and weary, jaded by life itself. But as they snapped into the past, the lighting was switched to soft yellow tones that made the same characters appear younger and youthful and removed years from their faces. How the light determines the mood of the set and the actuality of the life of the characters was pure art.

Both Sit in Silence for a While, a project of Khoosat’s Olomopolo Media, highlighted dysfunctional relationships, mental health, abortion rights and marriage. It was sheer delight for theatre lovers of Lahore who hadn’t seen anything of this calibre in a while. A play like this, with its terrific script and electrifying performances together with an incredible setting, was really something special to watch. In bleak times of political uncertainty and inflation that could kill, it is art like this that becomes the real rebellion against everything. For those of us who witnessed the magic take place in real time forgetting everything else during the performance was perhaps imperative in more than one way. As someone in the audience was overheard commenting, “this was so good. So, so good.”

The author is a writer and journalist based in Lahore. She has studied at Mount Holyoke College and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism