Acclaimed satirist Anwar Maqsood has teamed up yet again with KopyKats Productions for the stage play Anwar Maqsood ka dharna, which will premiere at the Islamabad Club on November 27. Set in the backdrop of the current political turmoil, the play also talks about the fickleness of the political situation, the accusations against the electoral system and the much dissected and en vogue dharnas, in an all-encompassing comedy of errors.
“The play is not against any political party, dharna or the government. I’m not demanding the rights of people — I’m simply requesting the rights of animals,” quipped Maqsood at a press conference on Monday. The play poster features a bewildered Maqsood at the forefront of donkeys grazing an open field.
Dawar Mehmood of KopyKats Productions, who has been directing plays for about a decade now, said that this particular play was hard to direct since unlike his previous productions, this was a completely unexplored territory in terms of theme or script. “It is a brand-new play and the greatest challenge was to make a talk show palatable for the audience, keep them entertained and still make it sound like theatre. As far as I know, this has never been done before in the history of Pakistani theatre,” he said.
Despite hearing about and being inspired by Maqsood’s exchanges with both old and new political leaders, Mehmood said that it had taken him four years to convince him to write such a no-holds-barred play.
When asked if he was impressed by Khan, Maqsood was quick to reply, “If that were the case, then instead of a chair, you’d see me atop a container!”
