The stage was set in Lahore last week by a theatrical troupe to present the Urdu rendition of the Shakespearean play, The Taming of the Shrew, titled Ilaaj-i-Zid Dastayaab Hai. The play will be shown at the World Shakespeare Festival in London along with entries by other South-Asian countries.

Under the auspices of the production house Theatre Wallay — Kashf, Pakistan is taking the performance to London at the end of May. After two performances at the Globe, the production will also be staged in Oxford, Bradford and Rotherham.

The play is considered as one of the controversial comedies regarding feminism. But they have little to do with our way of thinking. So there was an added advantage to adapt the comedy with ease into the parameters of our stratum which is done quite sensibly by utilising the nuance of ethnic groups and clash of cultural discourse.

The story unfolds with Mian Bashir (Salman Shahid) having two daughters to marry off: the elder one is Kiran (Maria Khan) who is pompous and short-tempered, and Rustam Khan (Omair Rana) hailing from Mianwali agrees to take on the challenge and make her his wife. Bina, Kiran’s younger sister, is wooed by two suitors who enter the house as tutors and finally one of them manages to win her over.

Directed by Haissam Hussain, the overall performances remained convincing. A stellar performance was delivered by Omair Rana while the debuting Osman Khalid Butt also showed promising talent. The missing factor was Nadia Jamil as Susannah Harris-Wilson, the producer, cast her in the role of Katherine. Hopefully, Nadia will be well enough to perform in London.

The Meekal Hassan Band played live on stage from a repertoire of folk songs and golden oldies to reflect the old city ethos, and used the flute, sarangi, harmonium, dhol, guitar and rubab to further define the characterisations.

“With talent like this, there must be a national theatre company in Pakistan,” the producer concluded the performance with these words.