LAHORE: The Lahore Arts Council (LAC) presented its own production Paisa Bolta Hai, a stage drama, at the Alhamra Art Centre, The Mall, on Monday.

It was the inaugural evening of the play which would continue to be staged till Wednesday (today). The audience took immense interest in the production and there was a huge turnout on the opening day.

The play is based on a monthlong drama workshop, conducted by noted comedian Iftakhar Thakur.

It is being staged by the Alhamra Academy of Performing Arts. Deputy Director of the Academy and Archives Muhammad Arif told Dawn that the academy had put in a lot of effort into the venture not only by roping in new actors but also conducting regular rehearsals of the play. He held noted comedian Iftikhar Thakur in high esteem for taking interest in conducting the drama workshop. He said in future more senior artistes would be invited to conduct theatre workshops.

The play has been written by Prof Siddique Ahmed and directed by Qaiser Javed. The director of the play said Paisa Bolta Hai significantly underlined the prevalent attitudes and behaviours of the society in theage of materialism. He said he and his team was lucky that many noted senior artistes had come to see the play on its inaugural day, including Khalid Abbas Dar, Aurangzeb Leghari, Ashraf Khan, Javed Rizvi, Mohsin Gilani, Pervaiz Raza, Rasheed Ali and Khalid Moeen Butt.

The initiative has been takenby Minister of Culture and Information Azma Bokhari to revive quality and socially relevant theatre. Lahore Arts Council Board of Governors Chairman Razi Ahmed took special interest in the initiative and supported the idea while encouraging the new artistes to put in their best for making it a rich tradition for the council in com-ing years.

LAC Executive Director Taugeer Haider Kazmi told Dawn that theatrical productions by the council would continue to take place, adding that the council had in its archives, including dramas written by famous playwrights and the council intended to stage them under hold its own theatrical productions.