LAHORE - The three-day Tamasha Festival with slogan ‘Performing Arts for Young Audience’ began at Alhamra on Friday.

Artistes from different countries including UAE, Australia, Japan, Korea and Sri Lanka are joining in.

The festival will have theatre, dance and music performances, storytelling sessions, panel discussions and workshops.

Tamasha will present eight major theatre plays, 21 performances by school groups and 10 interactive workshops for children, families and educators, including different storytelling, theatrical, musical and dance performances along with some amazing school acting by renowned theatre groups for youth.   The opening ceremony was attended by special guests and people from the theatre and performing arts such as Baela Raza Jamil, Bina Jawaad and Information, Culture and Youth Affairs Minister Mujtaba Shujaur  Rehman as honorable chief guest.

Renowned playwright Asghar Nadeem Syed said that he felt proud to be part of Little Art organization

The idea of the festival was to create a dialogue bringing people together at a platform where they can share ideas, developing the youth so they can take similar sorts of initiatives in the future promoting theatre performing arts in Lahore.

“These young artistes have done a brilliant job today. This festival is step towards boom in the theatre industry,” he said.

Salima Hashmi was of the view that youth are our asset they should not be neglected. “When I first performed in Alhamra there was no fancy set, props and sound system. There was nothing but a garden with a hut. But then it was a significant experience in my life and I learnt a great deal from it. We should appreciate the young talent because these young people are our future,” she said.

“Gogi aur Jugnu ka Tamasha”

Directed by Imran Nafees and Shoaib Iqbal, the play was based on the true story of two children who were fascinated by the magic of cinema and films and wanted to experience it.

The play is a family feast, and specially developed for children and young audience. The live music and colorful performances were remarkable.

Founder of The Little Art, Shoaib Iqbal said that the organisation worked extensively on projects for children in the medium of film, visual arts, puppetry and theatre. “Through this project, we will be pioneering in producing theatre for children and young people in Pakistan where the performers of these plays are adults, performing for children. We hope that children will find this an exciting opportunity to enjoy with their families and fuel their creative imagination,” Shoaib said.