Cultural Activism & Shahid Nadeem's Ajoka Theatre

Shahid Nadeem is a prominent Pakistani playwright who uses theatre for educational purposes, who writes for the betterment of the common man. Following the Brechtian tradition, Shahid Nadeem presents social and cultural dilemmas in his plays. He struggles against hegemony for a just and classless society. He is a cultural activist who instills his loftiest ideas into the minds of the readers through three strategies: he generates counter-hegemonic discourse; he incorporates metaphors and symbols into his text to convey his radical ideas. He uses Music, songs, and dance as a strategy to inspire the hearts and change the minds of the readers for cultural activism. He wants to move society towards a progressive change of culture. In Pakistan, a certain class occupies all the resources of the country and generates ideology to keep the status quo. The researcher explores how Nadeem's plays are fused with Gramsci's ideas which suggest that to bring change in the society, it is necessary to activate the people against hegemonic culture. Ruling classes use culture to fabricate myths to suppress the masses so that they can exploit them with their consent. The ruling class produces myths. All myths are the manifestations of the dominant ideology. The researcher finds Roland Barthes' concepts of myths and myth formations appropriate to study the plays of Shahid Nadeem that depict the counter-hegemonic struggle to rip off the fabrication of myths. The researcher explores these constructions and the writer deconstructs them to expose the contradictions and hypocrisy of the elite class in order to change the minds of the readers against hegemony. Shahid Nadeem uses his pen to struggling for the goal of a classless society.