Like any other drama in the world, Goan Tiatr too had to wait for some time to experience the presence of a woman artiste on the Tiatr stage.
Thetime was such that a woman artiste acting on a stage of any dramatic form wasnot welcome by anyone in the society. Even the males acting on stage were notrespected on the contrary they were considered of being of low character. Ifmale stage artistes were not given any importance, the question of young girlsstepping on the stage was a very difficult proposition.
GoanTiatr was lucky enough to have a woman artist on it just after 12 years of thebirth of Goan tiatr in 1892. It was on November 24, 1904 that Regina Fernandesacted in the lead role of the Tiatr “Bhattkara” and mesmerized the tiatraudience for the first time in the history of Goan tiatr. However she couldbreak those social shackles of narrow-mindedness only because she happened tobe the wife of the writer and director of Tiatr – Joao Agostinho Fernandes. Nodoubt she was followed by other female artistes namely Luiza Maria andCarmelina Fernandes, but it was not difficult for Luiza Maria and Carmelina tocome to the tiatr stage against all social constraints only because they toowere the family members of Joao Agostinho Fernandes.
Yetanother beautiful woman who made tiatr stage proud in the early years wasErmelinda. She was a popular Hindi film heroine during the era of silent filmsand was known as Sudhabala in the Hindi film world. She too glamorouslycontributed to the development of Tiatr. Some other girls who tried to widenthe mind-set of the society by making an entrance on the tiatr stage at thetime were: Anne, Miss Ida, Adelia, Artimisa, Etelvina and Georgina. Their verypresence made Goan tiatr different from dramas in other languages at that time.
Everytime when there were no girls to act, it was the men of the time who performedthe roles of women and kept the tiatr flag flying high. The males who excelledin female roles at that time were Andrew, Vincent de Saligao and Remmie Colasoand Joaquim Caetano Coutinho, who was popularly known as Miss Julie. Most ofthe popular tiatr artistes of yester years namely J.P. Souzalino, Rico Rod,Master Vaz, etc acted female characters as there were no women artistes. In thevery recent past Christopher Leitao and H. Britton too have entertained thetiatr lovers with their female acting.
However,in the 1940s, C. Alvares introduced Miss Mohana to the tiatr stage. It is MissMohana who became the greatest inspiration to other young girls to act inTiatrs. Mohana’s sister Ophelia readily followed her.
Butin spite of the presence of numerous women artists on tiatr stage today,sometimes it is observed that male artists perform the role of femalesparticularly while singing ‘kantaram’. It appears that males act as females inthe presentation of songs only to create laughter among the audience. No doubt,they get the desired results. But is it beneficial to the growth of tiatr inthis modern era for males to act as females? Because our aim should be to doeverything possible that raises the standard of Goan tiatr.
TomazinhoCardozo is the former president of the Tiatr Academy of Goa
