Titled Mian, Biwi Aur Wagah, the Dubai-based troupe tells real life stories through series of letters
A few years ago, while reading some personal letters to his friends, it dawned on Ehtesham Shahid that the speed with which the tradition of letter writing was getting extinct, and through that the fixtures of one's lives — the postman and blank paper — were being made redundant. As he flipped through carefully crafted words in red, blue and blank ink, each bearing a mark of different handwritings, Shahid conceptualised Mian, Biwi Aur Wagah — an Urdu play through which he hopes to create awarness and thus conserve and revive the art of writing letters.
MBW has the Wagah border as the narrator, and few of the countless letters exchanged between Patna-based Shahid, his wife who hails from Karachi and their relatives, at the centre stage. Shahid dwells on the cold, impersonal and transactional form of communication the current generation is indulging in through a deluge of technology. "Being tangible, letters, greeting cards had a personal touch. Our messages at now disposable - deleted with a flick of a finger. We are using MBW as a medium to take the audience into the romanticism and efforts attached with writing letters," he says.
Shahid takes his train of thought to the current generation and their thoughtless dependence on digital modes of communication. "They are completely alien to the concept of letter writing, which is key towards building a relationship and also with language. Their idea of interpersonal ties are shallow and materialistic - much like the words they type on their four inch screens," he laments.
At the insistence of their friends, the couple take out 10 of their personal letters, talking about life, love, politics, and culture across the borders. "That is why Wagah is part of the title as well as an integral character. It is the collector of our stories, discovering its own self through words exchanged between us," Shahid who is also the playwright of MBW, avers.
The play also uses different forms of enactment while reading the letters including dastangoi. There is also a letter that is narrated like banter between the husband and wife.
"These letters created a special bond between the writer and the receiver. For instance, an old woman wrote to her 10 year old granddaughter about her life across the border. It was only when she visits her grandmother's ancestral place that she relates to the feelings poured by the woman to her," Shahid says about the emotional thread running through the play.
The characters also include a postman, pained at his dying existence and a kora kaaghaz (blank paper), dancing through the show to emphasise upon her value in our lives.
The theatre group which hails from Dubai will be performing its first international show at the India Habitat Centre this weekend. They first staged it in Dubai last year in August and then again in October.
TAKE A LOOK
- ‘MBW’ has Wagah border as the narrator, and few of the countless letters exchanged between Patna-based Shahid, his wife who hails from Karachi and their relatives, at centre stage.
- Shahid dwells on the impersonal and transactional form of communication the current generation is indulging in through a deluge of technology.
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