It was an ambience relieved and a repertoire replayed on Friday morning at the Mahila Samiti rendezvous. The first-person narratives of the Drama Circle days since the mid fifties, interspersed with interesting anecdotes, made the group's reunion function into a rare treat. Not only to the circle members but also to the wider audience who heard them in rapt attention. Mind you. the speakers were buffs and one-time practitioners rolled into their authentic best.

They were immersed irf nostalgia for the most part, so that the underlying celebrative mood took very little time to change into a verbal mini research into the evolution of the group theatre movement in our country.

Drama Circle had emerged as an enlightened reaction to an attempted inroad into our cultural possessions during those early heady Pakistan days. It followed closely on the heels of the East Pakistan Literary Conference, held in 1954 and went on to stage dramas by powerful playwrights putting across messages of great import in those times. The sheer peek at some all-time great plays was a joy in itself Taboos could not ruffle their determination to pursue liberalism and refinement as an article of faith.

An amateur foothold, monetary and technical constraints and a spontaneous concern for quality and relevance combined to keep their number of presentations at a paltry 17. Tneir selectiveness notwithstanding, the Drama Circle has made signal contributions to the popularisation of stageplays in the country. By, setting high standards of performance, right through an era of severe limitations. it laid the foundation for the succeeding many others to excel in this art form.