KARACHI: Shakespeare’s plays demand a great deal from all of those who are involved in their production. But they become doubly demanding when they’re done in translation, in another language, which signifies a change in the lingua-cultural atmosphere that the great playwright lived in. And if anyone’s attempting a play such as Measure for Measure, which is difficult to categorise and contains the hard-to-tackle themes of adultery, mercy and abuse of power, the challenge multiplies manifold.

It is in this context that the Urdu version of Measure for Measure, named Jaza Saza, performed at the National Academy of Performing Arts (Napa) on Monday evening by the academy’s third-year students deserves praise.

When the play begins, we see the Duke of Vienna (Bilal Rahim) intending to temporarily leave the city, entrusting Angelo (Sohail Ahmed) with the leadership duties in his absence. Actually, he doesn’t go anywhere but disguises himself to see how things in Vienna are managed when he is not around.

As the story progresses, the character of Claudio (Hasan Khan) is introduced. He is arrested and sentenced to death for impregnating Juliet (Sana). Angelo is a staunch moralist and wants to wipe out all immoral activities from society. He is relentless when it comes to Angelo’s sentence. He wants him dead. Not just that, he wants all the brothel houses in the city to shut down and all those associated with them behind bars.

Claudio’s sister Isabella (Tehreem Shafiq) is an aspiring nun. When she is told by Lucio (Syed Arsalan) of her brother’s arrest, she meets Angelo to seek forgiveness for Claudio. It cuts no ice with Angelo. But soon Angelo finds himself sexually attracted to Isabella. He tells her that he can forgive her brother if she agrees to sleep with him. Isabella declines the offer.

In the meantime the Duke is roaming around the town in disguise. He hears Isabella talking to Claudio about Angelo’s lecherous designs, and Claudio trying to convince her that she should help save his life. He (Duke) devises a plan to unmask Angelo’s real, immoral face.

Jaza Saza is solidly directed by Zia Mohyeddin and nicely penned by Khalid Ahmed, though one would have liked the Napa scripts to move away from bookish Urdu; still, it worked well. But the young actors must also take credit for the play because they are only in their third year of training and it is no mean feat to do Shakespeare when you’re that young and haven’t experienced enough the exigencies of life. This is also the reason that tiny things, such as Sohail Ahmed’s woody facial expressions despite saying his lines well, could be conveniently ignored. All in all, it was a commendable effort.

The play was part of the academy’s ongoing international theatre and music festival.

Published in Dawn, March 28th, 2018