Written by: Saniya Ali Wattoo
Posted on: January 31, 2019 | 
The patients with Bishan Singh
Following days of controversy, including an initial cancellation over grounds of vulgarity and followed by protests from lovers of Urdu literature, Alhamra Art Council’s Manto Festival was reinstated as a two-day stage-drama event on the 29th and 30th of January. The first production of the festival, Toba Tek Singh, opened to an auditorium packed to the brim - aisles and stairways teeming with a turnout spanning several age groups, and attendees pouring in even as the brief performance drew to a close. It would be naive to expect anything short of a full house from Manto’s well-loved Toba Tek Singh, a gripping short story that remains among the most renowned and original portrayals of the 1947 Partition of the subcontinent. Ajoka Theater’s reputation for well-directed and produced plays was also a great draw, as the team prepared to debut fresh talent on the eve of the performance.
Nirvaan Nadeem’s adaptation of the iconic tale remained loyal to the source material, straying little from Manto’s writings - except, perhaps ironically, to exclude certain small details not terribly palatable in today’s hypersensitive political climate. The prologue of macabre partition-era images, however, was a noteworthy addition, and allowed for a more effective transition into the discomfiting world of Manto, than the light-hearted chattering of latecomers may have otherwise allowed. A segue into the first act followed, on a bare-bones stage illuminated by a small sliver of dim light - the only prop a drooping tree, serving as a focal set-piece in several scenes. Two suit-clad gentlemen served with fitting apathy as both narrators and the lawyers charged with sorting the paghal-khana (mental institution) residents into Hindustan and Pakistan - the driving predicament of the story.
Ajoka’s new talent was successful in bringing to life most of the characters with minimal stage-time. The decision to keep the introductory scenes as brief as Manto had written them translated surprisingly well onstage; despite a setting where character identities were effaced and robbed by psychological complications, Manto’s storytelling prowess, mixed with the theater’s artistry, allowed the audience to feel adequately torn between reveling and despairing at each character’s unique madness. This made for a heart-rending watch, even though the performance was generally short - the span between Muhammad Ali’s first Quaid-e-Azam phantasm and Bishan Singh’s final deathly flourish was not more than 45 minutes. With this, Nirvaan Nadeem’s direction succeeded in preserving and highlighting the very hallmark of Saadat Manto’s genius: his unmatched ability to condense epochs and whole spectrums of human emotion into the narrowest of literary spaces. This was further reflected in the lack of stage decor, the minimal use of music, and only the most essential lighting cues to highlight the differences between Toba Tek Singh and his peers. Manto’s own narration overlooks frivolous externalities and scene-embellishment, using only names, thoughts, and necessary distinguishing characteristics, all encompassed within Ajoka Theater’s straightforward costuming, vivid expressions, and candid dialogue. For Manto, the entire expanse of the experiences and emotions he wishes to convey is a function of these essential details alone, and to recognize this is, to have created a deeply authentic ode to him.
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