On 19th of this month at Kala Academy in Panjim, I saw the Tiatro “DOGUI BODMAS” written and directed by Samuel Carvalho (Ex-Kuwait), starting exactly at scheduled time 7.30 PM. I congratulate the director for adhering to the time very rigidly otherwise some others are so rubbish that they have no responsibility towards the attendees who cannot afford to waste their time by just sitting in the hall for the curtain to open. I hope that those other directors who commit this type of goof by ignoring their responsibility will maintain their time schedule very strictly.
This Tiatro was watched approximately by about 75% of the capacity of the Hall and according to my observation I found them satisfied. As for me, I liked the story which created suspense for every step and thus kept the audience on their toes. Since this Tiatro is still going strong, I feel I should desist from giving the contents of the play. Bai Roma plays her role well so also Mario Menezes who seems to be vastly improved in his delivery which is having very good clarity. Roseferns also plays his role well but he belied the expectations of the audience by not singing any solo as usually he does. In fact I was waiting to listen to his solo. Anil Pednekar’s performance was superb as he did his role very well of a son-in-law and equally matching was the role played by the seasoned and perfectionist Rosy Alvares, of the mother-in-law.
The comedy part was good but some instances of vulgarity was still performed. Secondly the dress code of Antonette de Maina was not appropriate and such short dresses are not used in our Tiatros. If the great directors like Alexinho de Candolim, J.P Souzalin, Saib Rocha, Manuel de Lima, Prem Kumar and some others had to see any “pozddem” artiste wearing vulgar dresses they would either tell that artiste to throw out that indecent dress or they will throw out the said artiste from their Tiatro.
Tiatro is not the monopoly of the directors and artistes, public also has got a role to play, they have all the rights to criticize, correct and if necessary to reprimand the vulgar Tiatrist who indicates vulgarity not only in terminology, in dress code but also in action. When Lucazinho Ribeiro staged the first Tiatro his motive was very clear that is to show decency because according to our history, culture, tradition and custom we Goans are very decent.
In the Side Show songs, all the singers sang good songs but especial mention must be made of the songs rendered by Olga, Reagan, Saby de Divar and Anil – Olga.
A.Veronica Fernandes.