‘Ilaaj-e-Zid Dastyab Hai’ sets its sights on ‘taming’ English audiences

The curtain was finally raised on Ilaaj-e-Zid Dastyab Hai to a delectated Lahore audience last week. After facing many financial uncertainties and artistic vicissitudes, the Urdu adaptation of Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew is all set to hit the road in the Bard’s own country with performances in Yorkshire, Oxford , Bradford and two grand performances at The Globe in London on the 25th and the 26th of May.
Lucentio becomes Kazim (Umer Naru) who arrives in Lahore that replaces Padua as the center of arts and learning in this contemporized adaptation of the comedy by William Shakespeare. His quest for knowledge is soon superseded by his love for Bina (Karen David) and thus he gets enmeshed in the main plot that must resolve before the subplot of his longing culminates in a union with his beloved. It is the “Shrew”, the ziddi Kiran (Nadia Jamil), Bina’s older sister that their father Bashir (Salman Shahid) must marry off first in accordance with the mores of a feudal society. And It will take a chauvinistic and arrogant suitor Rustam (Omair Rana) to cure Kiran of her zid, to tame her by the forcefulness and assertiveness of his personality. The win of the ideal is only a corollary to the win of the practical. Sounds all too Pakistani? Indeed.
The project is the brainchild of Susanah Wilson who proposed the idea to The Globe Theater for the International Shakespeare Festival that is featuring Shakespeare’s plays in 37 different languages and is part of the Olympics festivities. “The Globe was looking for an appropriate proposal from Pakistan and I was approached because they knew I had worked here and had directed student productions. When I was asked what I might propose I immediately knew it had to be a comedy because I think Pakistanis have an innate timing and talent for the comedic,” said Wilson. Omair Rana, Lahore’s eminent Shakespearian who has played Hamlet and Othello in the past and teaches theatre in Lahore said that the characters fit perfectly into the Pakistani milieu, just like to many of our youth who come from the country side to big cities, Lahore is foreign and familiar at the same time for Rustam, and so is Padua for Petrucio.
Umer Naru, who is playing Rustam’s foil, said that the project provided an excellent opportunity for young actors to test and exhibit their talent on a stage as prestigious as The Globe. “I have been doing theatre in Lahore for over seven years now. Appreciation for an art form that is essential for cultivating the quality of self-reflection in a society is slim to none in our country. Hopefully this project will revive some interest in theatre. It was a great opportunity for many of us young actors to learn from trained thespians like Nadia Jamil and Salman Shahid who have been a source of many a constructive critique.”
Susanah Wilson also expressed her dismay over the condition of theater in the country, “Most of the actors in our Urdu Taming of the Shrew production are in their twenties. Some earn their living through the occasional TV spot and some hold other part-time or non permanent jobs to support their passion, which is live theatre. This is such a sad state of affairs because the talent is incredible. I hope the actors in this production of a Shakespeare play will be the new shoots of a revived interest and support for Pakistani theatre.”
The cast is an excellent mix of seasoned actors like Salman Shahid, Nadia Jamil and Omair Rana and up and coming stars like Umer Naru (who is currently appearing in HUM TV’s drama serial Durr-e-Shahwar) and Osman Khalid Butt and very talented young actors who are literally the ‘who’s who’ of Lahore theater scene and have been keeping it alive by their sheer passion for art. The full cast includes: Ahmed Ali, Daud Randle, Hamza Kamal, Karen David, Maria Khan, Mukarram Kaleem, Nadia Jamil, Omair Rana, Osman Khalid Butt, Salman Shahid, Syed Abbas Hussain and Umer Naru.
The play was translated and adapted by Aamna Kaul, Mariam Pasha and Zaibun Pasha and is directed by acclaimed television director Haisam Hussain. The music for the play is composed by Mekaal Hassan.