The curtains unfold to a scene in the village wherein people believe in age-old practices of their ancestors. Apart from belief in the ‘rakhonddar’, who they consider as their protector, they equally worship the Cross in close proximity of the huge tree.
Natalin (Venita Gomes) is residing with her only daughter Ana (Velbe Cardozo/Rachel Fernandes). She has Jaku (Seldie Colaco) and his spouse Magdu (Jade Cruz) as her immediate neighbours.
On the other hand, there’s Batist (Marcos Gonsalves) residing with his only son Pitu (Cassius Fernandes). Batist takes the lead in assembling the village folk to organize and celebrate ‘zagor’. This celebration brings all the villagers together and unity builds up among the young and the old.
But trouble sets in when the landlord (Avito Pires de Menezes) steps in and wishes to have an upper hand over his tenants. He desires that all in the village, especially the children, should remain illiterate and uneducated so that no one surpasses him in knowledge.
This bhattkar’s sole aim is to exploit everyone, especially the women folk, for his personal gain and pleasure. To make ends meet, Natalin bows down to her landlord’s request and Batist loses his only son Pitu at the cruel hands of the landlord.
Will the villagers continue to face the atrocities blindly? Or will it come to an end some day? Who picks up the challenge to fight against the landlord? What is the end result? Will the battle bring in triumph or defeat to the opponents?
Tiatr ‘Zagronnachi Rat’ focuses on the conflict that once prevailed between the landlord and the tenants. The cruelty imposed on the hapless villagers has been exposed in the presentation.
There are fine performances from all the artistes on stage. But Venita Gomes stands out as one of the victims of women exploitation. Avito Pires de Menezes as the landlord and villain is good in body language, dress code and dialogue delivery. Child artistes Velbe Cardozo and Cassius Fernandes are quite at ease with each other and form a perfect chemistry. Other artistes have extended good support to the main cast.
For some laughter moments, there Seldie Colaco and Jade Cruz coming together as a couple and entertain the audience. But the latter had tendency of overacting in some scenes.
In the category of songs, the opening is a choral, followed by six solos, two duets, trio and quartet. Solos by Naira, Dinora and Holly, a duo by Nazario Pinto and Francisco Rebello and a duet by Jose Mascarenhas and Fevila Fernandes were appreciated by the audience. Senon and his musical team provided good live music, not empowering the singers on stage.
The stage sets and light effects by Romeo Colaco deserve appreciation. Costumes and make-up by Avdhoot Sahakari and Eknath Naik respectively also deserve a mention.