“Cunningly, Shakespeare in his history plays, both ancient and modern, and indeed in his political tragedies, forever holds opposing forces and ideologies in balance”
In the dooryard fronting an old farm-house near the white-wash’d palings,
Stands the lilac-bush tall-growing with heart-shaped leaves of rich green,
With many a pointed blossom rising delicate, with the perfume strong I love,
With every leaf a miracle
–Walt Whitman
When I was 12, I happened to be in a town where there was no electricity. It was an idyll town as it was surrounded with fields of sugarcane and cotton. At times, I felt the aroma of leaves of sugarcane when I saw their bladed leaves. Since then I am stuck with their amazing texture. When I was older I painted but, unfortunately, I can’t boast of any of my paintings, as I was unable to capture the true miracle of leaves.
It was a very cold winter. At dusk, in their mud houses, people would sit around a hearth with a log fire in rooms lit with dim lanterns hanging on the walls, listening to the jests of Nizam-ud-din on their radios. It was the most listened to radio programme in those days. Near the end of the programme the rooms would roar with the sound of snoring. Serenity exuded and people were happy.
There was nothing else to do for a stranger but to read books he had brought or listened to the Radio Ceylon. The Radio Ceylon was a blessing. Tuning to its frequency could open a trove of old Indian melodies. In one of those chilly nights I overheard that the local girls’ school was to stage a play on an evening in the next few days.
I wanted to attend the play, but for that I needed the help of the watchman of the school. The next morning I approached him, and he agreed with the proviso that I would sneak in and hide behind the pillars. The watchman knew that I belonged to an influential family of the area, and no fuss was expected from the administration if I were caught there. I sneaked in and following the instructions hid behind a pillar from where I could see the stage.
It was a small stage lit by lanterns. There was no green room. The actors entered the stage from the corner of the canopy. It was a world full of magic for me. I was a novice to such an experience. The stage was lit with the dim light of lanterns. The girls who were playing mendonned coats and trousers, and one had a peak cap on. The ambiance was bewitching. The audience was amazed and excited. Happy laughter could be heard.
The lack of theatrical performances is the harbinger of the intolerant society that we have now become
That night is still with me. Obviously, it could not have been an all-star performance or a great script but the ambiance got me. Later, as a student, I tried to create that atmosphere in my respective campuses, and I tried even when I was a teacher. I found the audience happy on all the occasions, but, unfortunately, I had to encounter the goons of the IJT. To them, I was promoting an anti-Islamic culture. Disheartened, I quit. The same was at the national level. Though we had performing art academies but nothing superb was produced on stage, and hence, vulgar theatre now dominates the milieu of performing arts in Lahore.
The lack of theatrical performances is the harbinger of the intolerant society that we have now become. In the early decades after the inception of Pakistan, we had folk theatres. Those were the moving theatres of the pre-Elizabethan England that would perform in every festival, enacting folklore that had overtones of Waris Shah and Muhammad Bukhshus. The lore of Mirza-Shahiban was the most favourite one of the day. It was all before the religious preachers eroded our culture, and before we had names like Abu Ammar and Umme Kulthum in our villages.
I remember how once PIA had a national troupe, and Naheed Siddiqi was the prima donna of our classical dancers’ troupe who performed outside the country as well.
One of the most prominent features of the western civilisation is its theatre and opera. These were not just entertainments but had contributed to evolve the sense and sensibility of society. Recently, I had an opportunity to listen to the lecture of Paul Cantor on ‘Shakespeare and Politics’. Cantor is of the view that the Shakespearean theatre in his own time was the epitome of the popular culture, and through his theatre Shakespeare inseminated a political sense among his audience, and people vied for republicanism later.
In our universities Shakespeare is taught on the parameters that were set by A C Bradley who analysed Shakespeare via his characters, and you would hear a cliché of hamartia (tragic flaw) leading to the downfall of the tragic hero. Whereas Professor Sir Jonathan Bate, in his lecture on March 2, 2018 said, “Perhaps Shakespeare was the Cicero of his age.” He summed up, “Cunningly, Shakespeare in his history plays, both ancient and modern, and indeed in his political tragedies, forever holds opposing forces and ideologies in balance.” So it is not just about the tragic flaws of his protagonists as our academics are enamoured of pronouncing.
A theatrical performance is, in fact, the interpretation of the present day maladies and the suggestions of the days to come.
The writer is an English language instructor at Taif, KSA