In 1964, a group of resourceful young people formed thedramatic troupe “ Kala Mogi, Candolim. The main members of the group wereTomazinho Cardozo, the late Neves Machado, JD Cardozo, Volley D'mello, JICarvalho and Romelo D'mello. The youngsters put together ideas to make theannual tiatr that was staged for the chapel feast of Sapiem a livelier affair.
Some of the ideas were:
Revolving stage:
In December 1968, 'XX 303 “ Kalljidar' a detective tiatr,written and directed by Tomazinho Cardozo was successfully staged. This wasfollowed 'XX 303 “ Konn Zait To?’ also a detective tiatr written by RomeloD'mello and directed by Tomazinho Cardozo which was staged for the SaipemChapel Feast in February 1969. The team attempted to make part of the stage arevolving one “ the idea was conceived by the late Neves Machado “ which wasmanually operated. For this stage, they used the sawn off trunk of a fallentamarind tree to make a stand, on which stood a secret room placed on aplatform of planks.
Unique stage curtain
The stage curtain used for ' XX 303 “ Konn Zait To?' wasmade of sarees instead of the usual road-scene curtain. The curtain proved tobe very attractive but the delicate sarees were in danger of getting damagedwhen the curtain had to be rolled up.
In 1974 the Kala Academy started the annual Tiatr Festival.All tiatrs staged in the Kala Academy’s Tiatr Festivals were written anddirected by Tomazinho Cardozo. Some of the innovations introduced by him are:
Lights instead of whistles
Earlier, the start of a song after a scene was flagged offby blowing a whistle. Similarly, the change to the next scene was also markedby a whistle. In May 1974, lights replaced the whistle in the tiatr ‘Inspector’staged during the 1st Tiatr Festival organized by Kala Academy.
Shadow play
Light is focussed on actors who enact the scene behind awhite curtain on the stage. The shadows cast on the curtain are viewed by theaudience. This technique was used in 'Inspector'.
Introduction of characters
In 'Aicho Somaz' staged at the 2nd Tiatr Festival in 1975,characters were introduced by bringing them on stage and focusing baby spots onthem while in the background, their names, the characters they were playing anda short description of their roles were announced.
Flashback
The technique of flashback “ to portray events of the past “was used in 'Ixtt' at the 3rd Tiatr Festival in 1976 and was quite successfulin terms of presentation. But it was realized later, that the audience did notquite catch the idea.
Roles of Hindu characters
In 'Kallokh ani Uzvadd' staged at the 4th Tiatr Festival in1977, there was a Hindu and a Christian family. The Hindu characters wereplayed by Hindus.
Conflicting thoughts
In 'Kallokh Ani Uzvadd', characters caught in a dilemma ofconflicting thoughts were portrayed with different lights and backgroundvoices.
Freezing characters
In 'Kallokh ani Uzvadd’ the end of each scene was portrayedby freezing the characters at the end of the scene.
Use of symbolism and suggestive stage setting
Symbolic actions instead of explicit ones and suggestivestage setting were used in 'Hanvuch To’ staged during the 5th Tiatr Festival in1978.
One stage set
Normally in a tiatr a number of stage sets were used todepict houses, gardens etc. In 'Ontoskorn ani Kaido', staged during the 6thTiatr Festival, only one stage set was used for the entire tiatr.
Recorded background music
Normally in a tiatr, live music played by the band is usedfor the play and also for the songs. In 'Ontoskorn ani Kaido' recorded musicwas used for the play.
A different beginning and end
'Utram Ani Kornneo' which was staged during the 8th TiatrFestival in 1981, begins with a novelist writing his novel. What he is writingis enacted in the tiatr. At the end of the tiatr, the novelist is shown endinghis novel.
Children's Theatre
The tiatr 'Bhurgem Jivit’, staged during the 18th TiatrFestival in 1992, was a full-length tiatr based on the life of street childrenand was enacted entirely by child artistes. This was the beginning ofchildren’s tiatr in Goa.
