26 Jun 2022  |   07:07am IST

The legend will live on

The demise of Mario Menezes is being mourned by everyone in the industry and everyone lauded him for his contribution to tiatr as well as the manner in which he molded new talent

T

he vice-president of Tiatr Academy of Goa (TAG) and founder of ‘Menezes Theatre’, Mario Menezes passed away in the wee hours of June 25, following a massive heart attack at Chiplun, Maharashtra. He was on his way to Mumbai by train along with Menino de Bandar’s troupe for a tiatr performance when he suffered the heart attack.

Born on May 29, 1960, in the picturesque village of Chinchinim, Salcete, Mario Menezes made his entry on the tiatr stage as a youth. Taking note of his natural skills and potential, late Fr Freddy J da Costa roped him in his tiatr ‘Doxea’ in1981 on the professional stage. Thereafter, he found a prominent place for himself in productions of various other tiatr directors, including Rosario Rodrigues’ tiatr ‘Maka Jienk Diat’ in 1982.

Mario Menezes staged his tiatr ‘Goa Bandh’ at the Kala Academy’s annual tiatr competition, which received good response from the audience, besides winning prizes at the contest. Its success prompted him to pen and stage more tiatrs on the Konkani stage.

After forming his own troupe ‘Menezes Theatre’ in 2001, Mario Menezes penned his first tiatr ‘He Chukik Bhogsonnem Asa?’, followed by several other tiatrs, which included ‘Mhoji Maim Mhoji Dusman’, ‘Beiman Kir’, ‘Moronk Pasun Suseg Nam’, ‘Dev Konn Hindu, Kristanv, Musolman’, ‘To Porot Ietolo’ and several others.

Inclusive of one children’s tiatr ‘100%’, which crossed 25 shows only in the cities, Mario Menezes penned and staged around 54 tiatrs in totality, some of which crossed the century mark. They included ‘Hem Chukik Bhogsonnem Nam’ (117), ‘Mhoji Maim Mhoji Dusman (100-odd) and ‘Tanchem Chintat Tim-ui Mon’xeam’ (100-odd shows).

Sangolda-based Rosy Alvares, who has been with the Menezes Theatre since 2001, said Menezes was a great actor, writer and director. “He came up with innovative ideas in his productions. He always respected all his artistes, musicians and backstage personnel. And there was equal respect shown towards all, irrespective of who you are,” she said.

Being loyal to her director for almost 21 years, Rosy said Menezes tapped her talent and utilized her singing and acting skills on stage to the maximum. As a singer and actor, she was a great asset to him, doling out performances of mother, daughter-in-law, differently abled characters and others.

Recalling one of the tiatrs of Mario Menezes, Rosy said she had a challenging role of a handicapped person in the tiatr ‘Tanchem Chintat Tim-ui Mon’xeam’ and she was supposed to utter just two words ‘baba, baba’ on stage in the entire presentation. For the unique story and enactment, the tiatr crossed 100 shows in villages and cities.

“Even after accepting main roles in my director’s tiatrs,” Rosy discloses, “there has always been acceptance for renditions in the form of solos, duets and duos.” “Usually the directors do not like to burden their artistes with extra responsibilities. But my director knew my potential well and explored it to the maximum,” she added.

Mario Menezes’ last production on tiatr stage ‘Thank You’ came as an Easter release in 2022 and completed 25 shows in the villages and cities. It focused on greed for money, with a specific mention about Covid-19 in the concluding scene and thanking God for the survivors, after massive loss during the pandemic.

Trumpeter Dexter Furtado, who was in the Menezes’ troupe for quite some time, before he went abroad for better prospects, said Mario was his mentor since he was just 17 when he started playing the trumpet for his productions. “We chatted just some time ago and we were supposed to meet soon. But now, he is gone all of a sudden and forever. We were more than friends and I cannot forget the time spent together wherever we performed,” he stated.

Lawry Travasso, another long-time artiste of the Menezes Theatre, said the untimely demise of Mario is a big loss, not only to the tiatr stage, but to the entire tiatr fraternity. “His contribution in the form of productions is immense,” he said, “and now as the vice-president of TAG, he was working tirelessly for the good of the tiatr and tiatrists in general.”

Travasso said that Menezes never had any vested interests, but to work for the growth of the tiatr industry. “By his untimely demise, almost 80 percent of his plans have come to an abrupt halt. As a friend, he would discuss many things about tiatr, artistes with me and had great plans in mind to take tiatr to a different level,” he mentioned.

Travasso disclosed that after much discussion, the Menezes Theatre was formed with the sole aim to assist in the development of tiatrs. “With the creation of the dramatic troupe, background music came into existence in Mario’s tiatrs. Prompting, which was existing earlier in tiatrs, took a backseat in his productions,” he added.

“Mario enjoyed molding newcomers in his tiatrs,” Travasso continued, “and for winning several prizes in acting, all the credit goes to my director and friend. He taught me the skills of acting, thus making me an established actor on the Konkani stage.”

Before forming his own dramatic troupe, Mario Menezes was part of Prince Jacob’s troupe for almost 11 years in 22 productions from 1989 to 2000. Among several enactments in different tiatrs like ‘Poltodd’, ‘Pangllo’, ‘Pergaum’, Poixe-Poixe’, ‘Patkam’ ‘Piso’, ‘Podvi’, ‘Pidda’, ‘Rag’, ‘Raza-Rani’, ‘Rogot’, ‘Rosto’, his memorable role in tiatr ‘Padri’ cannot be forgotten.

“Konkani tiatr has lost a very versatile actor, writer and director,” Prince Jacob tweeted on Facebook. “He is undoubtedly a superb actor, a gem of a person and a dear friend. His sudden death leaves me speechless. My deepest condolences to his family members.”

Lauding the works carried out on the tiatr stage and contributions made towards its growth over the years, Fr Dominic Alvares sfx said Mario’s demise is a great loss to his family and tiatr fraternity. “His contribution towards tiatr as an actor, writer/director and producer is phenomenal. He stands among the tiatr’s ‘greats’ in the modern era. May God grant him eternal rest and his family strength to bear the loss,” he said.

Mario Menezes always wished to give the best to his audience, be it with regards to the tiatr script, direction, comedy and songs. He would never tolerate comedy below the belt and insisted that it be rectified, if any obscene scenes or dialogues were included. “It reflects the reputation of the director,” he would immediately quip.

“Audience comes with great expectations,” Menezes once said, “and when you give them something cheap, then they will automatically move away from you. “When it’s entertainment on stage, the tiatr fans want to enjoy 100 percent, in every aspect of tiatr, which includes tiatr, comedy and songs,” he shared.

Menezes has also been instrumental in introducing new and raw talent on the tiatr stage. His last production ‘Thank You’ had only Lawry Travasso, Rosy Alvares, Tony de Ribandar and comedian Michael as the commercial tiatrists, whereas the rest of the cast were new faces, which included Asifa, Walter, Pierson, Maythan, Maverick and Alita.

The Tiatr Academy of Goa recently published and released two tiatrs of Mario Menezes at the hands of Rafael Fernandes, namely ‘Hie Chukik Bhogsonnem Asa?’ and ‘Mhoji Maim Mhoji Dusman’. Anything that comes in print form will serve the new genre of tiatrists, and so will the two new publications of Menezes.