New Delhi: The journey of tiatr began when a Goan landed in Mumbai in the late 1800s to find a better job.
An Italian travelling theatre company hired him and they travelled around India presenting many shows. When the company had to head back to Italy, this Goan was entrusted with a box of the costumes used during the performances. Inspired, he returned to Goa and created tiatr, the highly popular genre of the Goan theater.
Over 200 years, the genre has taken many shapes, addressed many more issues and consistently been a voice of the people.
Sunil Shanbag, a director-playwright from Mumbai, is geared up to stage Loretta-in Mumbai and Delhi-that is inspired by the essence of tiatr. Loretta is the second of the five productions being staged under the Aadyam banner this year.
Shanbag aims to recreate the Goan genre in its geographical and social context while giving the audiences a heady dose of comedy. “Loretta addresses substantial cultural issues with the help of distinctive features of the genre. It will see familial and social issues being dealt with in a manner that’s typical of tiatr.”
Widower Antonio Piedade Moraes, a landlord in Goa in the 1970s and a votary of the Konkani language, is protective of his island. His son Rafael, who returns from Mumbai with his Anglo-Indian girlfriend Loretta after completing his education, doesn’t quite share his father’s love but Loretta’s strong need for roots makes her relate to Antonio. The play reaches an amiable conclusion, and in the process, the characters undergo transformation.
Shanbag added, “The simplicity of the genre is deceptive. The narratives may be straight and the characters may grow in an uncomplicated way, but the issues that are dealt with often have so many layers. Loretta shares these similarities with a typical tiatr performance and it is my contemporary, urbane interpretation of the genre.”
Apart from music, among the unique characteristics of the genre are the side shows that happen at the front portion of the stage, traditionally giving those backstage some extra time.
“The side shows were message-laden in the guise of being distractions. Seen in the context of their time, they were the space where sometimes caustic comments and scathing sarcasm on institutions and positions of authority in society and politics were made,” said Shanbag.
(This appeared in The Times of India on May 26, 2016)