If we desire to make the performance of a tiatr effectiveand meaningful, then we cannot overlook the importance of stage-craft. Theimagination of the script writer and the vision of the director can well betranslated into reality by making use of an appropriate stage setting. Henceone needs a set designer to plan the stage in co-ordination with the directorof the tiatr.
Set designing will depend on the type of stage we are goingto use for the performance. There are three types of stages. These include:
• TraditionalStage: It is the most common stage we had in the past and it is also widelyused in the present times. Most of the halls constructed in the schools andtheatres in Goa have traditional stages. It has a rectangular or a square shapehaving a front curtain and side wings. For example, in Panjim, Kala Akademy’sDMK Auditorium or in Margao, Ravindra Bhavan’s Pai Tiatrist auditorium and forthat matter, stages temporarily erected in villages.
• ThrustStage: It is slightly different from the traditional stage. In thrust stage,the audience can witness a performance, from different angles as almost 75% ofthe stage area is exposed to them. Kala Academy’s Open Air Theatre has a thruststage.
• ArenaStage: It is yet another type of stage, in which the audience sits at differentlevels on all sides and the performance takes place on the stage placed at thecentre of the auditorium. Goa does not have an arena type stage so far.
Designing a set: As there are different types of stages, thedesigner of the set will have to take the type of stage into considerationwhile designing the stage setting. While designing a stage set, some of thethings that we should keep in mind are:
• The setmust be as simple as possible. It should express the vision of the director andcreate a befitting atmosphere for the play.
• Each propdisplayed in the setting must be used during the performance. In other words,only the things required for the performance should form the property of thesetting.
• As thetiatr is performed on stages of different sizes, the set designer should keepthis aspect in mind, so that he can make use of the same set on differentstages.
No importance: However, talking about the tiatr and its sets,I must confess that even the most popular tiatr directors do not give muchimportance to this aspect. Take for example any tiatr in Goa, which hascompleted as much as 200 performances. In every village where it was performed,it would have had different stage settings. The same attitude towardsstagecraft continues. Many a time, the director does not even know the colourof the sets because it is arranged by the contractor of the tiatr.
Economic viability: Some of the directors of well-knowndramatic troupes make an appropriate set for their tiatrs, but this set is usedonly in the cities and not in the villages. If one asks them the reason for notusing the same set in the villages, they will say that it is not economicallyviable. This happens only on the tiatr stage. No other drama stages, be it in Marathi, Hindi or English treat theirperformances like this. I am reminded of only two great directors of the tiatrstage, i.e. late J P Souzalino and Prem Kumar, who always saw that a specialstage set was made for each tiatr and the tiatr was performed in all thecorners of Goa, using the same stage set.
It is high time that our tiatr directors make an effort tomake use of the same stage set for all their performances of a particulartiatr, because it will add professionalism to their performances on one handand the audience, i.e. the tiatr lovers, will feel that they do not missanything even if they witness the tiatr in a small village on the other.
Tomazinho Cardozo is the former president of the Tiatr Academyof Goa
