PANJIM: Tiatr Academy of Goa (TAG) condemned the Saturday’s incident which took place at Ravindra Bhavan, Fatorda, Margao, wherein one tiatrist was slapped and badly beaten up by a lady and some other miscreants by invading the stage while the tiatr performance was going on. TAG in a press note said that the audience has got no right to invade the stage during the public performance. If somebody has any grievances against the contents of tiatr or its songs or against a particular artiste, there are other ways of taking action like lodging a police complaint or resort to legal course of action.
TAG further stated that invading the stage and assaulting the artistes is a direct attack on the tiatr fraternity which, if not stopped now, could lead to further repercussions and our artistes will be scared to come on the stage and express themselves freely thus putting a gag on freedom of speech which is enshrined in our Constitution.
TAG also said that it expects better sense to prevail and requested all the tiatr writers, directors, producers, and actors/singers to take a lead in refraining from character assassination or making personal attacks on any one from the stage which is a ‘sacred place’ for the artistes. There is an urgent need to maintain discipline and self-censorship. They should try to earn respect from the tiatr lovers by presenting meaningful tiatrs on social issues with humorous comedy without resorting to personal attacks and vulgar acts.
