On an eventful and shameful day for Goa’s most loved art form – the tiatr, the wife of an intrepid, controversial and fiery tiatrist, changed the definition or let’s say the “Conception” of the term show stopper. Jennifer Fernandes the wife of Francis de Tuem, darted onto the stage of performance and assaulted tiatrist Conception de Tuem for apparently making indirect references to her husband, in his song.
Even as the shocking and despicable act was being carried out, the painful irony, which would have been humourous in other circumstances was stark. Conception de Tuem, the director of Tiatr called ‘Answer’ was assaulted by a bunch of hooligans led by the wife of Francis de Tuem, the Director of Tiatr ‘Question mark”, The painful fall out is that no one really has a clear ‘Answer’ to why a section of the new generation of tiatrists have brought so much shame and ignominy and a ‘Question Mark’ remains on the respect and love that Tiatr will continue to enjoy from tiatr lovers. As disgusted Goans exclaim enough is enough and vow not to bring themselves or their children anywhere near a tiatr show, the likes of Francis de Tuem and all those who have assaulted the hallowed stage, to settle differences, have to pay for crossing the line in such a reprehensible manner.
And Francis de Tuem should know. When he was assaulted by supporters of MLA Mickky Pacheco while performing a kantar on stage in 2015, Herald had jumped to his defense. Sadly, the same words Herald used in support of Francis de Tuem in 2015, should be thrown back at him. Herald’s edit of November 13, 2015 headlined, “The show can’t go on if hooligans attack tiatrists”, applies to him and his family, and so do the following lines from the November 2015 edit :
“The action of supposed supporters of Nuvem MLA Mickky Pacheco, barging onto the stage to stop a ‘kantar’ performance of tiatrist Francis De Tuem, during the tiatr ‘Tuzi-i-dis yetolo’, is a grave attack on Goa’s most loved and popular performing art. The reasons why such a pre-meditated attack was unleashed is not, REPEAT not important. What offsets everything, including all arguments about the song being defamatory and a personal attack on Mickky Pacheco, is the act of entering the stage, the green room and forcibly stopping a tiatr artist from performing. There is no difference between these and hoodlums owing allegiance to parties who storm offices and cinema halls demanding closures and bans. The final line has been crossed. From attacking tiatrists on the roads and squabbling over them outside the confines of the tiatr hall, hooligans have entered a very sacred space – the stage”.
Francis de Tuem owes not just an apology but an explanation as to why he shouldn’t be banned from the stage for the act of his wife assaulting a fellow tiatrist, if he does not condemn his wife’s act and distances himself from the assault. If Pacheco’s supporters crossed the line in November 2015, his wife and supporters crossed it even further in July 2016 by actually assaulting a tiatrist as he began singing. He has brought shame beyond belief to the stage which has given him recognition, affection and support, none of which he deserves now
The fraternity has rightly reacted with pain and sorrow. Noted critic Daniel D’Souza has rightly said, “As the Regulatory Authority, the Tiatr Academy has failed to bring in discipline among the tiatr fraternity. The senior directors must step in and control the rot that has set in before it consumes this beautiful performing art called tiatr”. Meanwhile, noted Tiatr Director Pascoal de Chinchinim has mooted this, “The only way to save Tiatrs from getting bad to worse by the unwanted publicity it is receiving now, is through self Censorship”
In a sense, the attack on the tiatr stage and on tiatrists could be a reflection of a state we are living in. If art emulates life, then we have an even bigger problem at hand.
