the goan I network
PANAJI
We’ve all heard of plays being staged in Goa, and most of us would have attended a few. But have you ever been to a play in Goa performed by students from Japan?
If you’re curious about what that it would be like, and are keen to experience a unique venture, the Goa University will be hosting “Momotaro: The Peach Boy” “ a Japanese folk tale performed in English on Thursday, February 20, at 2.30 pm, at the conference hall (admin block).
The play will be the directorial debut of Mario Coelho, who is the Japanese students’ English instructor during their stay in Goa. (Coelho has been an actor and singer with the Mustard Seed Art Company since its inception.)
Every year, the GU hosts students from Japan for a period of six months. The students come from Nihon University in Japan.
The idea to perform a play in English this year was mooted by Dr Rahul Tripathi, the co-ordinator of the students exchange programme.
Initially, Coelho found it hard to select a suitable play for the students to perform.
“I was looking at Indian plays in English, but nothing seemed like the perfect fit. A friend suggested looking up a site called ‘The Wondrous Tales of Old Japan’. I found this particular play perfect because it had a cast of 10 members which we reduced to nine,” Coelho told The Goan.
The cast has been practicing once or twice a week for the past three months for the hour-long play.
“The first few rehearsals were exhausting. Even though I was a hard taskmaster, it worked out well because these students are from a culture that is very disciplined,” Coelho said.
With the nine-member cast (eight students from Japan and an Indian), the play is set to tell the story of Momotaro, who is sent in a giant peach by the goddess Kannon-Sama, to the home of an elderly childless couple who live in the mountains.
As Momotaro grows up, Japan is troubled by a band of vicious ogres who destroy everything in their path. Momotaro realizes that he was sent by the goddess to battle the ogres. Accordingly, he takes leave of his parents and sets out on his journey to Ogre Island.
On the way, he encounters a dog, a monkey and a pheasant, who join him in his valorous mission. How they manage to battle and overcome the fearsome ogres forms the rest of the story.
