Spoof play: One fine day when Romeo met Paaro

Sprinkling some masala on the classic romantic tragedy.

ISLAMABAD: Add a quirky twist to Romeo and Juliet and you have the perfect recipe to entertain local audience, even if it means introducing a desi character. The week-long play “Sorry Juliet! Romeo Loves Paaro” concluded at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts here on Sunday.

“The idea was to replace feelings of true love with flirtation; something we see a lot in the current society,” said Shehryar Hassan, who played the lead role of Romeo in the play.

An audience member dubbed the play “a treat of laughter with quality theatre” appreciating the effort put in by the young team behind the performance.

The bilingual play revolves around two rival families: Montangues and Capulets involved in a family feud that goes back years before any of the members were born.

While Romeo is getting over his last love, Juliet of the Capulet household has just been introduced to a wealthy young man who her parents wish her to marry. Both naturally fall in love.

Romeo’s love for Juliet wanes when a Sikh family with a stunningly beautiful girl Paaro barges into his life. The event illustrates that there was a time when love was considered to be an asset but then it was overpowered by the superficial concept of flirting.

Directed by Raheel Khan Lodhi and produced by Nasarullah Chaudhary, the play had a way of lighting up the ambience and left many laughing in stitches.

The cast mesmerised the audience with dances and related props, comic situations, jealousies and old age involvements.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 30^th, 2012.