Love and other demons.

KARACHI -- An understatement: William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet is, arguably, the most famous love story in world literature. Why? It's about destructive teenage romance that challenges family traditions and subverts community values, written with a poetic flair that resonates with all those who have fallen in love or, better still, want to fall in love. An Urdu translation of the beautiful saga by Khalid Ahmed and directed by Zia Mohyeddin that opened for theatre lovers on Friday at the National Academy of Performing Arts (Napa) was one of the most eagerly awaited events in the city's post-Covid cultural calendar. Does it live up to expectation? A difficult question to answer.

The story in a nutshell - not as a spoiler because most literature buffs are familiar with it. Juliet (Noreen Gulwani) and Romeo (Ali Sher) run into each other in Verona at a ball. Their love comes to the fore when Romeo doesn't leave the premises of her house after finding her alone at the window (the celebrated balcony scene). It turns out that their families (Capulets and Montagues) are enemies.

The two, like most young people, are married secretly by Friar Lawrence (Samhan Ghazi). Tybalt (Mehroz Gul), a nephew of Lady Capulet (Zarqa Naz), is livid and wants to fight Romeo for showing romantic interest in Juliet. In the ensuing scuffle, Romeo's friend Mercutio (Fawad Khan) gets killed. Angered by it, Romeo kills Tybalt. He is subsequently banished to Mantua by the Prince of Verona.

In the meantime, Juliet's father Capulet (Farhan Alam) fixes her marriage with Count Paris (Aqeel Ahmed). Disturbed, the young Juliet looks to Friar Lawrence for help. He gives her a potion that will make her appear to be dead. She does that. Romeo, who has no idea about Friar's plan because a letter that was supposed to reach him doesn't get delivered to him, returns to Verona after hearing that Juliet has died. He faces Paris at Juliet's tomb, kills him and finds Juliet in the burial vault. He kisses her for the last time and poisons himself to death. Juliet wakes up, sees the dead Romeo and kills herself, too.

Romeo and Juliet is, as critics...