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International Journal Of Literature And Languages

Peer Reviewed | Open Access | E-ISSN: 2771-2834
Published Article

Staging Postcolonial Displacement: Performed Masculinity in Ajoka Theatre's Lawrence in Lahore

Staging Postcolonial Displacement: Performed Masculinity in Ajoka Theatre's Lawrence in Lahore

  • Alina Akbar
    Department of English Language and Literature, Riphah International University, Lahore, Pakistan
  • Dr Shahid Imtiaz
    Department of English Language and Literature, Riphah International University, Lahore, Pakistan
Postcolonial displacement performed masculinity Ajoka Theatre T.E. Lawrence

This article critically examines Ajoka Theatre's Lawrence in Lahore: The Lost Years (2024–2025) through the intersecting lenses of postcolonial displacement and performed masculinity. Situating the play within Pakistan's tradition of political theatre and Ajoka's four-decade legacy of cultural resistance, the analysis argues that the production constitutes a significant decolonial theatrical intervention. The play disrupts imperial historiography by reimagining T.E. Lawrence's lesser-known sojourn in colonial Punjab, foregrounding marginalized historical actors including Kashmiri nationalist Abdul Qadeer, revolutionary Bhagat Singh, and the enigmatic Pir Karam Shah. Drawing on postcolonial theory (Said, Bhabha, Spivak), gender performativity (Butler), and cultural resistance theory, the article demonstrates how the play represents displacement on multiple interconnected levels geographical, political, cultural, and epistemic—while simultaneously exposing masculinity as a fluid, performative, and politically charged construction. The analysis reveals that Ajoka's theatrical strategies multilingual script, fragmented narration, incorporation of diverse performance traditions, and rejection of linear historiography—function as formal enactments of dislocation that challenge both colonial ideology and postcolonial nationalist exclusions. The article contributes to postcolonial theatre studies, gender and masculinity studies, and Pakistani cultural studies by demonstrating theatre's capacity to contest dominant narratives, amplify subaltern voices, and participate in broader decolonial projects.

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