Way back in 1892, when the first tiatr, ‘Italian Bhurgo’, was staged in Mumbai by Lucasinho Ribeiro, followed by several other productions inked by the tiatrists of yesteryears, every director sought the timely help of a prompter and the trend continued till the 1990s. Be it with the dialogues or songs, their assistance and dedicated service behind the curtain initiated the progress of any tiatr.
Today, as tiatr has undergone a sea change in all aspects, the prompters too have become non-existent. As far as prompting is concerned, their service might have taken a backseat, but their contribution as stage managers continues till date.
Anthony Correira alias Pienkar was one among those rare prompters who assisted several tiatr directors coming up with their productions on stage. They depended on him and his expertise as far as smooth flow of dialogues by the artistes on stage was concerned.
Hailing from Pilerne, but presently residing at Saipem-Candolim, Anthony was born on June 10, 1948. In 1963, at the tender age of 15, he picked up the task of prompting, besides being the stage manager for village tiatrs in Saipem.
Initially, Anthony assisted directors Tomazinho Cardozo, Joao Cardozo, Eugene Cardozo, Estevam Fernandes from Verem, Reis Magos, Teofil Gonsalves from Nerul and Albert Fernandes from Pilerne.
With the tedious task of continuous prompting, Anthony probably mastered the art of penning tiatrs and he scripted his first tiatr, ‘Dukhi Sonvsar’, in 1968, which was directed by Tomazinho Cardozo. Soon after, in 1969, he scripted and directed his second tiatr, ‘Ghor Zanvoim’, when residing at Marra-Pilerne.
In 1980, as a seasoned prompter and stage manager, Anthony stepped into commercial tiatrs and assisted in productions by late Fr Freddy J da Costa, late Fr Planton Faria, Ligorio Fernandes, Joe Meny Furtado and several other directors. He also rendered help as a judge for one-act plays staged during that period of time during the Christmas season, which were organised by late Fr Eusebio Ferrao at Divar, late Fr Freddy J da Costa at Bambolim and Porvorim and St Anne Cultural Club at Marna-Pilerne.
During the period 1970-77, Anthony joined the Konkani daily ‘Uzvadd’ as a sub-editor under the editorship of Evagrio Jeorge. He served there as a sub-editor, besides contributing towards the sports and the cultural pages. During his tenure as a sub-editor, his contribution towards tiatr came in the form of reviews of tiatrs scripted and directed by M Boyer, Remmie Colaco, Prem Kumar, Jacint Vaz, Joe Rose, Conception-Nelson-Anthony, Aristides Dias, Rosario Dias, C Alvares and other directors of yesteryears. In order to give a boost to amateur writers and directors, Anthony would also visit villages like Merces, Taleigao, Santa Cruz, Caranzalem, Divar, Bambolim, Pilerne, Candolim, Nerul, Britona and pen tiatr reviews.
From 1978-80 Anthony also served the ‘O Heraldo’, handling the Konkani page, which was introduced for the Goan readers. In 1983, he flew to Kuwait, seeking greener pastures. During his stay there, he served as a stage manager to directors Joe Ferreira, Donald, Rosary Ferns, Sylvester Vaz, Salvador Faleiro, besides being a judge for one-act play competitions organised by United Club of Utorda.
During the invasion of Kuwait in 1990, Anthony returned to Goa and from 1990-93 he served as a sub-editor of Konkani monthly ‘Gulab’ and Konkani daily ‘Goencho Avaz’, both edited by late Fr Freddy J da Costa.
In December 1993, Anthony took a flight back to Kuwait and continued with his service as a store keeper at a catering company for almost 29 years. In 2017, he returned to his roots and is presently serving as a freelance writer for Konkani weekly ‘Amcho Avaz’, besides penning tiatr reviews.
When the silver jubilee of the Konkani monthly ‘Gulab’ was being celebrated in Kuwait, Anthony was one of the people felicitated by the Kuwait Kala Mogi. In 2017, for his contribution towards tiatr, he was also felicitated by the 125th tiatr celebration committee.
According to Anthony, over the years, tiatr has progressed in leaps and bounds without prompting. “Earlier, each and every actor on stage depended on the prompter for delivery of dialogues and it was not a very good trend,” he says.
As far as stage sets are concerned, Anthony confesses that tiatr would be staged with hanging curtains. “But today there are innovations on stage as far as stage sets are concerned and the audiences have appreciated it. There’s a lot of improvement with regard to background music and light effects too.”
Anthony predicts a bright future for tiatr provided its standard is maintained as far as comedy is concerned. He insists that it should be linked to the main plot, thus maintaining the traditional tiatr format.
