A mini musical titled ‘A Bunch of Clowns’ was held at the Music Art Dance (MAD) school on Sunday afternoon, to showcase the remarkable talent of young students based in Lyari. Parents and excited family members made their way to MAD school from Lyari to watch their children perform for the first time in front of an audience.
‘A Bunch of Clowns’ is a play from a Sandra Fenichel Asher book titled ‘The Bully Plays’. The book consists of a series of 10 to 15 minute plays which deal with issues regarding bullying in school and how it affects children. Hamza Jafri and Nida Butt, who are the program managers of this project as well as the founders of the school, chose this particular play to help the students become more aware of the impact of bullying on children. Through this play, the students were able to learn about how bullying affects a child’s development and self esteem.
The play was translated into Urdu by acting instructor Sunil Shankar, an acting enthusiast who graduated from the National Academy of Performing Arts (Napa) and directed a number of plays for Napa in the past.
The music score of the play was composed by students from the guitar and percussions/drum classes, whereas the lyrics were written by students from the singing classes, all with the help of their respective instructors.
The skit ended with an energetic dance routine by the dance students, which the audience found highly entertaining and cheered. The 15-minute play left the audience with the message of how your individual identity is significant and spreading compassion and love is better than violence.
