PANJIM: Enough is enough. After running out of patience over the poor sound system at Kala Academy’s iconic auditorium, irate tiatrists have taken strong exception to Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude’s statement reiterating that there is no fault in the upgraded sound system and have now thrown the gauntlet at him to watch their tiatrs with the audience to ascertain the ground reality.
Venting their ire over the poor sound system, tiatrists have demanded refund of their money spent on hiring private sound system.
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Disagreeing with the minister’s contention, noted tiatrist Francis de Tuem challenged Gaude to watch his tiatr to ascertain the ground reality.
Francis said, “I am ready to stage a tiatr with reduced tickets, provided Art and Culture Minister Govind Gaude sits in the auditorium along with the audience and watches my tiatr till the end, so as to know the ground reality.”
Charging full amount for the auditorium and compelling tiatrist to hire private sound system was wrong, he said. “The Kala Academy should refund the money spent on hiring sound system. We had no other alternative, but to hike the ticket rates from Rs 150 to Rs 200 per person to defray the additional expenses incurred on the sound system. As it is we had already suffered for over two years on account of the closure of Kala Academy,” Francis said.
Another tiatr stalwart, Prince Jacob, who staged his new production on April 20, claimed that he was told at the time of booking the hall that he will have to bring/hire a sound system.
“I paid Rs 19,470 towards the hall booking and spent another Rs 7,000 on the sound system. Another thing what I observed was that the curtains were taking a minimum 40 seconds to move up and down at the push of a button. I feel that the government should have consulted us(before throwing open the renovated Kala Academy building to the public),” he said.
Tiatrist Willy Silveira, who was the second artiste to stage his tiatr ‘Israel’, on March 25, after auditorium’s reopening, said, “At the time of booking the hall, I was alerted that there is no sound system and they told me to arrange for the same. Since it was my maiden show, I hired a private sound system. Logically, the Kala Academy should refund some amount of money since we have not used the auditorium’s sound system.”
Noted tiatrist and former Assembly Speaker Tomazinho Cardozo said that they had brought some of the issues to the notice of the art and culture minister so that the same can be rectified.
According to Cardozo, they have brought to the notice of the minister about the defects in the new LED lights. He said that the LED lights suddenly change colour. “This should not happen and the tiatr organisers should have the authority to change the colour as and when they want. We have told the minister to provide spotlights on the stage in the auditorium,” Cardozo told O Heraldo.
“The PWD engineer who was present for the meeting has assured us that he would make necessary changes,” he informed.
He further stated that they also brought to the notice of the Minister that the sound system is inaudible.
Cardozo said that the covering above the stage has been removed and perhaps that interfered with the acoustics and in turn affected the sound. “The minister has assured us that he would bring improvement in the sound system,” he added.
Drama artiste Rajdeep Naik said that he too had to hire a sound system “since the technician told me about the faulty sound system”.
“I visited the Kala Academy thrice and the technician showed me the sound system but could not assure me of its functionality. We are organising ticketed dramas and if anything goes wrong, the audience will pull us because we charge them and are answerable to them. I had written to the Kala Academy requesting the authorities to reduce the auditorium charges or to refund the money spent on hiring the sound system,” Naik added.
“I personally think that the sound system is not proper for staging tiatrs or nataks as the microphones fail to pick up the sound. Why does the stage performance have to suffer if the authorities claim the sound system to be good? The sound system may be good, but the sound engineers must be trained to operate it. It is the responsibility of the authority concerned. Each tiatr director who has recently staged his/her tiatr in Kala Academy, has hired a sound system by spending around Rs 10,000 or more. If we use the available sound system in the auditorium, we are sure that we will face the wrath of the audience and our performance will suffer too. This is not acceptable,” said Pascoal de Chicalim, a senior tiatr director.
Pascoal said that “it’s a pity that after spending crores of rupees on renovating Kala Academy the infrastructure is not apt for staging tiatrs or dramas.”
Joyel Fernandes, popularly known as Comedian Joyel, said, “I had to hire a sound system from outside as I was told that the sound system in the auditorium is improper. They should improve the same or compensate us by reducing the auditorium charges.”
“The Kala Academy is charging approximately Rs 20,000 to stage a tiatr, but we have to incur additional thousands of rupees to hire a sound system. Kala Academy should at least compensate us by reducing the charges till the sound system is put in place,” he added.
Comedian Myron said, “We are compelled to hike the tickets since we have to shell out money to hire a private sound system in the Kala Academy auditorium. The Kala Academy charges us over Rs 19,500 for the auditorium, including the sound system. But given the past experience we have no option but to hire a private sound system for the satisfaction of the audience.”
“I admit that we had hiked the ticket rates from Rs 150 to Rs 200 per person in order to reduce our expenses. By hiring the private sound system and by paying Kala Academy Rs 19,000, tiatr directors are suffering losses, leave alone break-even,” Myron said.
Tiatr aficionado Trajano D’Mello said, “The art and culture minister should immediately hold a time-bound enquiry into this matter. Alternatively the minister should organise a tiatr at least for an hour by using Kala Academy’s sound system, and by inviting tiatrist directors, actors, officials and the media to prove his claim that the new sound system is reliable and not faulty.”
