Since the time ‘tiatr’ came into existence on the Konkani stage through the initiative of late Lucasinho Ribeiro, who staged the first tiatr ‘Italian Bhurgo’ in Mumbai on April 17, 1892 and staged the first tiatr in Goa on January 1, 1894, this distinctive form of Goan art has grown in leaps and bounds.
Later, late Agostinho Fernandes, popularly known as ‘Pai Tiatrist’, took tiatr to a different level with innovations in the entire setup which included ‘podd’dde’, ‘cantos’, songs and comedy on the stage. He along with his spouse, late Regina Fernandes worked unitedly towards the growth of tiatr in every aspect.
Many tiatrists down the ages followed in the footsteps of Lucasinho Ribeiro and Agostinho Fernandes and tiatr gradually became a part of the Goan art and culture. From ‘zomnivhele fell’ to ‘khell tiatr’ and finally ‘tiatr’ in its purest form, this unique Goan art continued to entertain the Goan community, especially in the villages, in multiple ways.
Tiatr was the only source of live entertainment on festive occasions in villages and cities. Its demand later motivated many tiatr directors to stage their tiatrs in the city auditoriums. Initially, when a tiatr was presented on stage, it carried a storyline which ultimately culminated on a happy or a tragic note. The comedy, which formed a part of every tiatr, was always interwoven in the main plot. There hardly existed a side comedy in tiatrs of yesteryears and the songs introduced in the tiatr were in different format, namely solos, duos, duets, trio, quartet and choral.
Today, with the growth of tiatr in different aspects on the Konkani stage, the long existing format of tiatr has vanished in the air and the tiatr directors go about with their productions as per their whims and fancies or they get carried away by the sheer taste of the tiatr lovers, thus tarnishing the pure image of tiatr.
If you go to watch today’s tiatr, nothing seems to be strictly followed as far as the format of the tiatr is concerned. Comedy, which should have been part of the main plot, is presented on the road or with the blue curtain in the background. Some of the songs, especially those which demand interaction such as duo, duet, trio and quartet, are presented at leisure with not the slightest shadow of interaction among the singers.
How much effort is put in by the tiatr directors to concentrate on the stage sets, costumes, lights and the background music, which are equally the basic ingredients of a tiatr? Excluding a few of the directors, some seem to focus only on the investment to be made on every new production rather than giving the best to the audience.
And with all these loopholes in today’s presentation of tiatr, we still see tiatr flourishing in the wrong sense of the word ‘entertainment’. Right from cheap comedy to those old, stale songs, the tiatr lovers are taken for granted and nobody seems to object for the same. And the new trend that has set in of late is provision of fewer stories and a big dose of comedy to the tiatr fans. Half a dozen comedians are roped in and the spectators expect it to be a comedy blast on stage.
But as the presentation progresses on stage, there’s nothing to provide to the house-packed audience by some of the popular comedians, except for vulgarity to the core. ‘People want and expect that from them,’ is the instant reply given when this issue is raised.
An ardent tiatr lover from Maddel, Margao, Filipe Dias voices his concern on the latest trend that has set in and says, “The comedy in today’s tiatrs has definitely reached an alarming state. In some of the tiatrs, most of the comedy carries double meaning and undoubtedly vulgarity is slowly destroying the flavour and true essence of tiatr.” “The ethics of humour is almost lost or dead. The manner in which comedy is presented today, it appears that natural comedy with laughter delivered merely through body language is over,” he adds.
“Just to bring laughter to the audience,” Filipe continues, “Some of the comedians say and show or do anything immoral on stage and it appears that the directors have no say or control over it. Or is it that the tiatr directors and comedians find vulgar comedy easy to pen, with less effort to think and work hard? Unfortunately, to a certain extent the audience laughs, but vulgar comedy will have its adverse effects on children and youth tomorrow.”
Recalling tiatrs of the past, Filipe says, “There was no vulgar comedy on stage. Today, the sanctity of tiatr and Konkani is being destroyed. The standard of tiatr will surely go down if filthy comedy continues on stage in the near future. The audience is equally responsible for vulgarity to continue on stage. In earlier presentations, comedy was always a part of the story of tiatr. Today, there
are mere jokes and indecent ones by t
he comedians.”
With more of comedy and less of story in today’s tiatrs, Filipe opines that it’s like changing the actual structure of the traditional tiatr. It is like destroying the foundation of tiatr or else it should be declared as a comedy show and not comedy tiatr as a tiatr has its own format. “Apart from directors and comedians, there’s an urgent need for introspection from the audience as well. Whether they get high quality entertainment for money spent on tickets or if it's a waste of hard-earned money on cheap entertainment,” he says.
Another tiatr buff from Caranzalem, Gregory Fernandes sometimes feel disgusted watching the latest tiatrs in Kala Academy auditorium. “As far as thinking ‘out-of-the-box’ is concerned, some of our tiatr directors have gone bankrupt today and sometimes the same ideas are found repeated in many presentations. And when one watches vulgar comedy, the directors and comedians should watch south Indian movies to get better and innovative ideas, which will definitely help in the growth of comedy and tiatr,” he suggests.
“With comedian Selvy’s untimely death, natural comedy has crashed tremendously on stage, and it has equally become too cheap. Introduction of new, raw talent on stage by the senior tiatr directors is a good move, but grooming them further is the need of the hour. Sometimes, there are no proper rehearsals, singing from the background is the order of the day and new artistes are found burdened with acts and singing simultaneously. In such cases, they fail to do justice to either on stage,” concludes Gregory.