Antonio Vital Furtado, born in Benaulim, the village which nurtured several noted tiatrists and directors, completed his primary studies at Holy Trinity School, Benaulim. While schooling, at the tender age of around 10 or 12 years, Furtado received ample opportunities to showcase his singing skills at various cultural programmes presented during annual days and several special occasions.  

His father, late Constantino Furtado, used to teach ’zomnivhele khell’ during Carnival celebrations and was also part of the troupe, with his singing and acting. Though Vital never got the opportunity to witness his father as an artiste on stage, his uncle, Alex Furtado, told him that his father was a great tiatrist of his era.

After garnering confidence in school, Furtado proved his mantle as a tiatrist in village tiatrs presented by Antonio Pereira, Matias Rodrigues and Alex Furtado.

Furtado, presently residing in Orlim, stepped on the professional stage in 1971 when late Rosario Rodrigues decided to script and stage his non-stop tiatrs. His first entry was in tiatr ‘Meenakshi’, followed by ‘Suria’, ‘Ekuch Ratri’ and ‘Ami Fator’, ‘Hindustani Cheddvam’, ‘Patkinn’, ‘Ekloch Tuzo’, ‘Ekleanuch Poila’, Kallim Khotam’, Cheddvam ani Chedde’ and several others.

Furtado performed in around 57 tiatrs of Rosario Rodrigues and was considered a faithful follower and pillar of that enthusiastic director. “During that period, two tiatrs of one and half hours duration each were simultaneously presented,” he revealed.

With regards to roles taken up in Rodrigues’ tiatrs, Furtado proudly informs that he has enacted all the roles, right from the lead role to the villain and comedian; the only ones he hasn’t are that of a ‘kunbi’ and ‘gavddi’. “When it came to comic acts and Rosario was part of it, he would invite me to share the stage with him and the two of us would have perfect chemistry on stage,” he added.

“In non-stop tiatrs, there would be only the opening chorus; for the rest of the tiatr it was 13 scenes and a combination of 13 cantos and comedy, with no songs in between the acts,” revealed Furtado. “For 30 years, there were no songs in tiatrs, but non-stop tiatrs continued with the support of the tiatr fans. People enjoyed those tiatrs with mere cantos and never complained about the lack of songs in between the acts,” he added.

Furtado disclosed that tiatrists from Mumbai would occasionally visit Goa with their troupes, present their tiatrs only in the cities and return. “But those tiatrs never had any adverse effect on the ongoing non-stop tiatrs staged by Rosario Rodrigues,” he said.      

Furtado has been instrumental in rendering at least 20 opening songs in Rosario Rodrigues’ tiatrs, except for a few with late Bobby, Catush and Seby Carvalho. Singing praises of his director, he mentioned that Rosario would always encourage amateur artistes and he always wished that other directors should follow in his footsteps.    

About his long-time director, Furtado proudly stated that Rosario was a born writer, composer and director. “With a particular topic or thought in mind, he would instantly pen a script, but sometimes would struggle to give an appropriate title. My assistance would help and the show would continue. On one occasion, he penned the script, but was lost with the title. It was later named ‘Ho Uzo Kedna Pallovtolo’ which had artistes like Ofelia, Bab Peter and several others,” he mentioned.

During his service with Rosario Rodrigues on stage, Furtado took a brief break of 2 years and during that period, he penned and staged four tiatrs, namely, ‘To Tuzo Bhav’, ‘Dis ani Rat’, ‘Miss Aruna’ and ‘Ti Rat Ti’.

Concerning his memorable role in several of Rodrigues’ tiatrs, Furtado recalls his unique role of a beggar in tiatrs ‘Patkinn’ and ‘Hindustani Cheddvam’. “Rosario would pen two tiatrs in a year,” he revealed, “and each tiatr would cross 40 shows at Gomant Vidhya Niketan and 80 in the villages. Some tiatrs would flop and he would shut it down after 25 shows,” he added.     

After his mentor Rodrigues passed away in 2003, Furtado enacted in Premanand Lotlikar’s tiatr ‘Papi’ and Menino de Bandar’s tiatr ‘Floriano Vaz’. In a last minute fill in, he also enacted in John D’Silva’s tiatr ‘Chuklole Roste’ for two shows.

Today, Furtado may not be seen on stage as often as he used to, but his contribution towards the Konkani stage continues through penning of tiatr scripts and composing songs for several directors. “I have the power and capability of penning and directing my own tiatr, but would not like to take the plunge as new generation artistes are too demanding and irregular for rehearsals. I have no patience to face such irresponsible artistes. Directors today have to bow down to their artistes to stage their tiatrs,” he grieved.

“Earlier, dramatic troupes were less and there was more support and cooperation,” he observed, adding, “Today, too many groups have mushroomed and demand for artistes has increased. Undoubtedly, the standard of tiatr has come up, but it has become a business today, unlike the passion and enthusiasm that prevailed in the past.”