The recently concluded Tiatr Academy of Goa (TAG)’s third All Goa inter-collegiate/HSS tiatr competition had eight institutions across the state participating in the event. At the first inter-collegiate competition, there were only three participants, followed by five institutions participating in the second year. This year, the strength increased to eight, with seven participants from the college section and one from the higher secondary school.
With a good number of educational institutions participating in this year’s tiatr competition, the presentations on stage were equally fine-tuned and appreciable. With the exception of a handful, a good number of institutions put in much effort regarding the tiatr script, direction, comedy, songs, stage sets, lights and background music. With the exception of one college, which handpicked a tiatr already presented earlier for the tiatr competition at a different level, rest of the institutions worked on new tiatr scripts and subjects relevant in today’s world.
Subjects revolving around the tiatrs staged this year included malpractices by medical practitioners, superstitions, traditional trade and careers, relationships within the families and society, safeguarding nature’s bounty and child sexual abuse and its repercussions on the vulnerable victims.
A good number of colleges roped in professional directors with well-versed knowledge in theatre arts and consequently, their presentation was beyond expectation, with fine acts and timely dialogue delivery. It was difficult to spot flaws among the actors in any of the scenes on stage.
In one tiatr, with the exception of two artistes, rest of the cast was non-Catholics, but their presentation on stage as actors and singers was commendable. In the previous years’ participation, this particular institution would fall short of perfection in renditions.
With regards to stage sets, some of the institutions took pain to bring in something unique on stage and all their efforts deserve appreciation. And the best among the rest equally picked up the prizes and was rated the first three as far as overall performances was concerned.
In the section of songs, there were renditions in all categories as per the norms and guidelines set by TAG. But apart from the solos, some of duos, duets, trios, quartets, sextets lacked interaction. The manner in which they were presented on stage could be classified in the ‘choral’ category.
There were colleges which had their own students as musicians and they indeed gave a fine performance as far as live music offstage was concerned. This initiative needs to be encouraged and promoted on a larger scale as it will only help groom new musicians in the future in the field of tiatr.
It is a good initiative by TAG to promote tiatr among the school and college students, thus inculcating love towards Goa’s rich art and culture. And when much effort is put in regards rehearsals and other finer aspects in order to win, at least the first three winners should be given the chance to showcase their talents to a wider audience. And consequently, if TAG could provide four shows in the villages to each of the winning tiatrs, then all their hard efforts would definitely go rewarded. It would also boost the morale of all the participants (singers and actors) in each of those tiatrs, thus motivating them to move in the same direction and become tiatrists in the near future.
As the strength of the participation is increasing every year, insistence on original tiatr scripts by TAG rather than picking up old ones and presenting on stage would also help produce new and creative tiatr writers. It would also assist in improving the quality and standard of tiatrs at the grassroots level.
