When 24-year old Mark Silva, the Youth Coordinator from St Anselm’s Catholic Church, Southall in UK, decided to raise funds for the church, he realized it was a tiatr that could bring the community together. That’s how the cast and crew of ‘Nitik Dollenam’ came together. After two months of practice, they are now ready for their performance on July 23. St Anslem Rising Youth Ministry in association with JM Productions will be staging Konkani tiatr ‘Nitik Dollenam’ on July 23, in aid of the church maintenance fund of St Anslem’s Catholic Church, Southall, which has a large section of Goan community. The tiatr is written by Joer de Paroda.
The young director, Mark, is also a teacher at Villers High
School. “The church has nearly 3,000-4,000 parishioners from the Goan community
and the parish priest is Fr Jovito D’Souza, a Jesuit priest and the first ever
Goan parish priest in St Anselm’s Catholic Church. We were thrilled to have him
here almost a year back and he has been very encouraging. He leads the
spiritual activities and is proud of the Goan community for coming forward to
support this good cause by organizing the tiatr and has conveyed his best
wishes to all the artistes,” says Mark.
He directed his first
tiatr, ‘Hench Amche Fuddarche Ghor’, written by Anthony De Betabatim in UK.
“This is my second tiatr as director. It was an outstanding learning experience
to work with upcoming actors and renowned artistes. As a director, I had to
tailor my direction to suit the understanding of the young people to ensure
that the writer’s idea is delivered accurately. I have tried my 100 percent and
now it is up to the actors. From what I have seen; they are giving their best.
The comedy is mind-blowing. We have a top young comedian in Master Win (Bladwin
D’Silva), son of Menino Mario,” adds Mark.
The cast and crew are
all based in Southall, which made it easy to be on time for rehearsals. The
group is a mix of school and college students and working individuals. They
have been practicing for two months from 5pm to 10pm in the church hall. The
cast includes noted tiatrists like Felcy, Jr Nelson, Bab Andrew, Albert Cabral,
Simon Gonsalves, Princewell Fernandes, Bunty Vaz, Agnes D’Silva, Babit de
Zuari, John Rose and Osvy Viegas. Comedians Bladwin D’Silva, Brendon Rato,
Clement Po and Bernice Fernandes will provide some much needed comedic relief.
An essential part of the tiatr, the music will be performed by the band led by
Armando Rodrigues (trumpet) and young musicians Francisco Fernandes (keyboard)
and Ivan Pereira (drummer), Stalan Vaz (rhythm guitar) and Selvin Fernandes
(base guitar).
Tommy Afonso better
known by his stage name, Jr Nelson, will be felicitated on the same day with
Joe Valant Braganza, the main sponsor for the tiatr, Bladwin and Gregg Carvalho,
lighting designer for the tiatr. “I loved being a part of the tiatr as it is a
fund raising tiatr in aid of our church. I also got the opportunity to guide
and give a boost to the performing amateur artistes,” says Jr Nelson. The
youngest actor in the tiatr is 12 year old, Kingsley Rodrigues.
Felcy took to singing
after nearly seven months for this tiatr, “I’m really excited to work with this
group of upcoming talent. I have a very busy schedule but I ensured that I give
time to my church tiatr so that we could raise funds. Our support will help the
cause,” she says.
Being
true to the nature of tiatr, the youngsters though brought up in UK, lose their
English accent when delivering Konkani dialogues. The tiatr is in pure Goan
Konkani accent. these youngsters have an English accent but once they get into
character and watching other actors on stage, they speak well in Konkani with
no English taste,” says Mark. The show is nearly houseful and if there is a
great demand, the troupe may plan a second show in August.