heater is one of the most incredible forms of art, for it combines everything from spatial design to music to lighting to acting and is forced to put the masterpiece on display, in real time, night after night. Therefore, even if a production is bad, a production is good, simply by virtue of the kind of work that goes into putting it together.

That said, every production has its glitches. That is to be expected. However sometimes, as part of the audience, one must wonder if the director or writer of a certain play considered the fine art of reading a room/ knowing their audience before they put something together.

This wasn’t the first run ever of Uzma Sabeen’s Love Window, written by Babar Jamal. The play was previously performed a few years ago, and must have been enough of a hit to be staged again. Uzma Sabeen has a quaint, old-school signature, which is rooted in her traditional training and blooms with her sense of humor. So, while one gets why she thought the script was nice, one would also hope that with her experience and exposure over the years, she would also be discerning with the kind of scripts she chooses to work with.

Though well-acted, a plot that sets itself upon Tamizuddin/TD (Ahmer Hussain) harassing a woman who has no interest (Safia Bhalaisha), and Qutubuddin/QD (Hammad Khan) asking her to please just reciprocate the advances with a smile, so TD can be stable enough to produce good work for the magazine that employs him.

There is a lot of talk of the way her shampoo smells and a lot of watching her get off her bus with binoculars, and leaving her fresh vegetables because she came home with takeout. Just no. Why is this comedy? Does Babar Jamal, the writer, realize that romanticizing stalking is just not okay? Does Uzma Sabeen, as a woman with the choice to pick her script and choose her narratives feel comfortable enough to call whatever’s happening in Love Window a ‘romcom’?

Let’s just spoil the entire thing for you: the object of TD’s affections loses her job because of him, and QD hires her to cook for them since she has no other skills. She ends up falling in love with QD, by the way, so please feel as disappointed as you want with all of it.

The only person who disappoints in this entire mess though is the director. Uzma Sabeen is far more intelligent and talented than to work with scripts that smack of misogyny and harmful tropes. She doesn’t have to be serious and do multiple runs of, say, Thanda Gosht, but there are more themes and stories to explore while remaining light and funny.