After a month of rigorous training, the Mustard Seed Art Company will be taking the stage for their
second annual play, ‘Famous Nobodies’, directed and scripted by Isabel Santa
Rita Vas. The group was founded in 1987 and has been performing regularly for
over three decades, making this their 66th play. The Mustard Seed Art Company
is synonymous with English theatre in Goa. The amateur theatre group has been
staging two plays every year. This is their second offering for this year,
after ‘When the Day was Young’ in February, also a short original play.
An English Literature teacher, Isabel has been writing original
plays and this will be her 37th play written for Mustard Seed Art Company.
However, the team behind the Mustard Seed Art Company is not just limited to
their on stage performance, they explore their talent in writing, composing
music and even penning the lyrics for songs that are staged for the plays.
‘Famous Nobodies’ will be staged on September 6, 2018 at 6:45pm
at Condillac Residence, De Sa Waddo, Quitula, Aldona; on September 7 at 6pm at
Gomant Vidya Niketan Hall, Margao; and on September 9 at 6:30pm at the
Institute Menezes Braganza, Panjim. The tickets are available at Martin Lobo
Supermarket in Aldona, Magsons at Fatorda and Furtado’s, Navelcar Arcade in
Panjim.
The play is written and directed by Isabel Santa Rita Vas with
original music composed by Daphne P de Souza and Aileen Carneiro. The cast
includes Ann Barreto de Souza, Kiran Bhandari, Kimberly Gomes, Marisse Coutinho
Bhobe, Karishma Alvares, Aryan Bhobe, Ameena Bukhari, Daphne P de Souza, Mark
Valadares and Lara Condillac. The narrators are Kimberly Gomes and Lara Condillac.
The lyrics of ‘Second Fiddles’ is written by Ameena Bukhari. The production
team is led by Daphne P de Souza, with lights by Bhaskar Adivrekar, sound by
Steven Fernandes of Friends Audio and stage make-up by Danica da Silva Pereira.
Ariedon Gomes will be performing on the flute.
Speaking about what inspired Isabel to write the story, she
says, “History highlights the lives of only certain personalities but their
significant halves are not given importance. The play is set in a museum where
these secondary nobodies have a conversation. The play focuses on individuals
like Kasturba Gandhi, Eva Braun, Marilyn Monroe and even the wife of the
Pulitzer Prize winner Arthur Miller.
“We ask whether they had no choice in life. We also deal with
modern day issues like the worldwide refugee situation in the sense that they
are nobodies in new lands. In life, these famous nobodies can be both men and
women, however in the play, the women are central characters. There is a
mythical creature like a ferryman who transports these characters,” explains
Isabel.
For
this play, Mustard Seed Art Company will be staged at a new venue; the people
of Aldona and the surrounding village will have the play at the Condillac
Residence in Aldona. “The cast is not as big as it was for plays like ‘Animal
Farm’. There are around 10-12 members who are actively involved in
choreographing the songs and composing the music for the play as well. The cast
includes mostly women, with two characters – a ferryman and a refugee boy –
played by two male cast members,” informs Isabel.
