Nostalgia extravaganza

Amateur theatrical productions served as much needed interludes in my academic humdrum. I am not just reminiscing from a passive observer's position. Yours truly was quite the dabbling thespian or stage hand; whether it was in the slapstick revues that were the products of the overactive minds of NCA's troupe Nautankee or the societal and at times slightly risqué productions at my alma mater LUMS that somehow slipped through the notice of the burgeoning orthodox elements. Acting on stage or simply being part of the whole shebang served as an expression of creativity that sliced through the banality of hitting the textbooks, or the sack for that matter.

The notion of a blood-sucking fiend has plagued the perceptions of many a hyperactive imagination. I am not talking about the pint-sized mosquitoes that flit about serving as a veritable nuisance, and have off-late morphed into dengue dispensing darts. The sine qua non of many a horror story is the vampire, a human hybrid whose penchant for human blood stems from its need to sustain a semblance of existence, if you can call it that. Nonetheless, the general take on vampires has been from an objective of inciting dread and repulsion, especially via the quintessential personification of Count Dracula, whose creator Bram Stoker quite possibly took his cue from the accounts of the 15th century European Vlad the Impaler a.k.a Dracula or "Son of the Dragon" alluding to his distinct royal bloodline.

Now the troupe called Nautankee is known for being anything but macabre. So they took the central theme of the various Dracula phenomena and ran with it, so much so that they made everybody lose their breath in trying to catch up with their slapstick comedy. Titling their gut-wrenching production as "Dracula Ki Wapsi," Nautankee staged it to a rollicking reception. Following a loose storyline of a "Dubai return" eligible bachelor who turns out to have a craving for what was inside the veins of his prospective bride rather than above them, the play was interspersed with outrageous musical numbers choreographed to the likes of pop hits such as "Cotton Eye Joe" by Rednex.

Following closely on the heels of the success of Dracula Ki Wapsi, Nautankee ambitiously geared itself up to treat its growing fan following to another rollicking rollercoaster ride tricked out with ghostly vibes. Lending it the moniker of "Bhoot Kahani," the troupe pitched it a la "Phantom of the Opera," infusing it with a score that memorably drew from the haunting melodies churned out by the likes of the rock banshees Queen, typically "Bohemian Rhapsody". A motley crew conjured up some of the most mockingly macabre and frightfully festive shenanigans that unleashed ripples of copious laughter amongst the packed audiences at Hall III of the Alhamra Cultural complex.

My own theatrical forays at college first alighted upon a whimsical yet delightful play, frivolously titled as My Best Friend's Affair. I played the role of the "My" character who was perpetually trying to give advice on matters of the heart to his "best Friend" who started lusting after every girl who threw a mere

glance his way. I followed this dramatic excursion up with one that treaded along more traditional pathways that meandered around a village setting. I played a local upstanding lad braving the wrath of the local overlord in trying to seek justice for a girl who had fallen victim to his carnal cavorting.

My last staged escapade was one that indulged in the multi-layered intricacies of mimed fantasies, contained within a production titled as "HIM". Tracing the emergence of human consciousness from its seminal animalistic state, it wormed its way through the various transitory stages of sentience, discovery, identity, doubt, regret, fear, adversity and an eventual elevated existence. Ironically, this extrasensory ability of the human society at large is exactly what is being undermined by the esoteric elements of our society. They are hell-bent on ramrodding the "New World Order" that will reduce its subjects to a culled-off lot of regimented worker units. Hence it is upon us to wean ourselves from slick sensory sedatives and strive to defy every decree of the duplicitous powers that be.