The script is the story line of a tiatr. Fifty per cent ofthe success of a tiatr depends on it being a good story. During the first twoor three decades of the existence of tiatr, its standard was raised with everynew production. The reason for this lies in the fact that most of the writersand directors of the time dedicated themselves to the development of tiatr.Every production of a tiatr was better than the other.
The first tiatr, ‘Italian Bhurgo’ by Lucazinho Ribeiro wasan adaptation of an English opera called ‘Italian Boy’. After the success of ‘Italian Bhurgo’, MrRibeiro also adapted ‘Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves’ and ‘Carlos Magno’ to Konkani and staged them as tiatrs. Anotheroutstanding artiste of the pioneering years was Sebastiao Gabriel D'Souza whowas popularly known as ‘Karachiwala’. He translated Shakespeare’s ‘Merchant ofVenice’, ‘Hamlet’ and a few other English plays into Konkani. Karachiwalabecame a popular tiatr artiste of that time due to those productions. Joao Lazarus D'Souza also stagedShakespeare’s classic, ‘Romeo and Juliet’ as a tiatr. What is evident fromthese facts that tiatr was influenced a lot by European drama. Due to thesereasons, we do not come across original scripts of tiatrs during the firstdecade of its existence.
However, the strength of any drama lies in scripts which areoriginal in character. Creative writing of scripts does not only raise thestandard of that drama, but also it enriches the literary treasure of thatlanguage. And this vital trend of writing original scripts was set by thevisionary of tiatr stage - Joao Agostinho Fernandes who was later called the‘Father of Tiatr’. He was responsible for giving a new direction and guidanceto write original scripts. He felt that there were many issues and problemsbothering Goan society and it would be appropriate to highlight these problemsthrough tiatr.
He wrote 32 original scripts based on issues existing in theGoan society. Some of his original scripts include ‘Cavelchi Sundori’, ‘Revoltade Satari’, ‘Bhattkara’, ‘Kunnbi Jaki’, ‘Bebdo’, ‘Dotichem Kestanv’ and‘Vavraddi’. One can see that JoaoAgostinho Fernandes touched subjects like the caste system, ill effects ofdrinking, dowry and dignity of labour much before these issues became seriousproblems in society. It is interesting that the issues highlighted by JoaoAgostinho Fernandes through the scripts of his tiatrs over 100 years back existeven today.
The trend of writing original scripts of tiatrs set by JoaoAgostinho Fernandes took firm roots among the tiatr artistes. Every tiatrartiste started writing original scripts. In the beginning of the 20th century,we come across numerous intelligent script writers who produced tiatr scriptsof a high standard. To name a few, Alexinho de Candolim's ‘Dhormacho Bavtto’,Minguel Rod's ‘Tarvoti Irmao’, C Alvares's ‘Kednam Udetolo To Dis’ etc,reflected the issues before the Goan society. However it was M. Boyer whocreated a record of sorts with the tiatr ‘Ekuch Rosto’. The script was based onthe need for communal harmony in Goa. His other scripts which were highly appreciated by the people were‘Sonvsar Sudortolo’, ‘Ghor Dukhi Ganv Sukhi’ etc. Another script writer whoexcelled in script writing was Prem Kumar. His tiatrs, namely ‘Dukh’,‘Vavraddi’, ‘Jawan’ and ‘Fulam ani Kantte’, can be considered as classics inthe history of tiatr. Besides these, J P Souzalin's ‘Hem Asa Tem’, NelsonAfonso's ‘Ghorabo’, Aristedes Dias's ‘Divorce’ and Kid Boxer’s ‘Somzonnen Chuk’are some examples of excellent scripts.
The trend of writing original scripts set by Pai Tiatrist –Joao Agostinho Fernandes – still continues. No feast in Goa is complete withoutstaging a tiatr. Till a few years ago, all these tiatrs were written, directedand performed by the village artistes. The only drawback that I observed inthis enthusiasm of writing original scripts is that anyone and everyone startedthem and thus their quality in terms of depth and substance suffered.
Tomazinho Cardozo is former president of the Tiatr Academy of Goa
