The
modern form of Tiatr is quite different from the khell tiatr. One of the
differences are that khell tiatr was performed door to door while modern tiatr
is acted on a selected raised platform.
However one should note a point that though tiatr is the most exciting
folklore of Goa, the first tiart was staged in British Bombay.
Being familiar with both Zagor and khell was well as the
songs vocalized on various occasions, both Lucasinho Ribeiro and Joao
Augostinho Fernandes were the pioneers
of building a Konkani tiatr in Bombay.
Having worked for the Italian opera company Lucasinho found the first
tiatr and had elements borrowed from the Italian operatic form and even titled
the drama Italian Burgo. However some writer while trying to identify
the pioneers of tiatr credited Joao Augostinho Fernandes as the founder of
modern Konkani drama. However, Joao augostinho
himself had set the record straight, with reference to the pioneer, by writing
in the Ave Maria newspaper on November 25, 1943. The article is highly important in tracing
the history and development of tiatr.
He wrote “(………) I find it necessary to convey (….) some
history regarding the goan of pioneer of Konkani theatr and one who deserves
the prominent position of honor in this Endeavour. Mr caitaniaho , who employed
at the Bombay Gazette ,happened to
meet me one day and spoke about tiatr. I went along with him(…) to meet Mr. Riberiro(…)
I would visit Mr Riberiro (…) one day
,the three of us ,thought of searching for youngsters(…) nine boys were
required to stage the opera, and so taking two or three roles each , we started
rehearsing every evening in order to put up a theatr. Thus having seen our
readiness Mr. Ribeiro laid the foundation of Konkani theatr.”
Taking a close look at these two pioneers, we realized that
on April 17 1892 that is Easter Sunday is generally regarded as the date on
which the first documented performance of a modern tiatr (Italian Burgo) in
Konkani was stage. This play was
composed by Lucasinho Ribeiro. However,
is the original pioneer of Konkani tiatr he is not being given enough important
today. It is Joao Augostinho who is
called the father of Modern Konkani tiatr and is generally called a “Pai tiatrist”.
In his remembrance the Pai tiatrist auditorium has been constructed at Margao. He
was the pioneer in many ways. He was the first to cut a disc in Konkani when he
recorded songs with his master voice in 1908.
In a need to publish his plays, Balcara I was presented in
and a few years. later Balcara II was published o n June13th 1916. In 1937
three of his plays appeared in a single volume: Balkara, Padr Jose Vaz and
Dotichem Kistavem. He printed a total of
5 volumes.
Kunbi Jaki {volume Four) is one of
his most celebrated plays. He portrayed
the indigenous people’s lifestyle capabilities.
Joao Augostinho was the 1st
person to bring kunbi dances ad songs onto the stage with original rhythm.
In a career spanning over fine
decades 1892 – 1949 – Joao Augostinho scripted a total 30 plays. 20 of these were originally created and only
four were translated from the sources.
Some of his well known plays were the
Belle of cavel, Revolt de Sattari, Cazar Matarponnar, Geraldina, Vauradi,
Madian Racho Devchar and others.
Through his various plays it has become evidence that the primary
objective of Joao Augostinho was to bring about transformations in society
through elimination of its various evils such as caste and class prejudices,
dowry etc.
There are several teatrist who
have acted and directed plays on the Konkani stage. Even today we find a quite increasing number
of tiatrists. Some of the many well know
are J.P. Souzalin compared over forty plays.
He was liked by Hollywood’s great director Cecil B. D .Mella for his
directorial abilities. Some of his plays
are Dream of Lisbon, Oxem kelear Sudhrot
Goem (Goa might improve by this). Paichi chuk vo maichi (Mother or Father
mistake).
Kid boxer’s 1st tiatr
was ostori but Kidache Sopon became the most popular of his dramas. His one more tiatr Somzonment chuk zali explores the human psyche ad the
tendency of prejudice that leads to terrible misunderstanding.
Prem Kumar is the screen name of
Pedro Xavier da Costa. He directed his
first plays Mhozo Put. But before reverting to tiatr’s he acted in
many Hindi films. He has earned a
reputation of bringing in many innovations in Konkani drama such as the
jackknife stage, revolving stage, half sliding stage, etc. Scenes such as a rice field, ploughing, a
railway station, waterfall and so on. He
tried to enrich the standard Konkani tiatr through added technical brilliance
in stage setting and light effects.
Thus we see that the modern
Konkani tiatr has taken huge steps ahead from the roots of the two main
pioneers of this folklore. Both of them
are to be equally credited to the same.
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