Tiatr Mogi
First things first! ‘Hixeob Devacho’ is a tiatr released during the season of lent and by no stretch of imagination, this is a tiatr pertaining to the Lenten season. The only semblance to the season is that the word ‘Korezm’ is uttered four times in the entire tiatr while the songs, costumes and presentation is totally in contravention to the spirit of Lent.
God’s mill grinds slow but it surely grinds. Our actions need to be accounted for. Hence when we act in a particular way we should keep it in our mind that every action of ours will have an equal reaction and that some day we shall reap in full measure the consequences of our actions. Hixeob Devacho the newly released tiatr, of the Queen of Political Songs, Olga Vaz draws the attention of the audience on these thoughts.
Script
The script follows the pattern of the non-stop drama with comedy script running parallel to the main plot. The storyline too is old wine in a new bottle. But the storyline manages to keep the audience interested and at certain sequences the audience applaud to the proceedings. The sequences though predictable are interestingly woven into a storyline. The cantos in the script are well composed.
Comedy
The tiatr can boast of featuring the best three comedians of the Tiatr stage. Prince Jacob, his brother Supremo Humberto and John D’Silva. It is indeed a treat to watch Prince Jacob and Supremo Humberto setting the stage on fire with their great combination timing and understanding. John D’Silva lends them good support. The comedy is simple and modest but the facial expressions and characterization of the two brothers is so great that they were the centre of the audience’s talks during the interval. A senior citizen an ardent tiatr mogi remarked: Hope they continue working together in tiatrs.
Sets
The sets were well designed and a treat to the eyes, the vibrancy of the colours denoted the status of the family but were contrary to the spirit of the plot. The blue curtain was used for the comedy scenes most of the times which was irritating to the eye. A modification in the existing box sets could have been a better option to present the comedy scenes.
Acting
The tiatr boasts of topmost artistes and needless to say everybody dis their role perfectly. Roma in the lead was fabulous even though she did not have the physique required for the character. Anil Pednekar and Cajie de Cacora were natural as the brothers. Clara the legendary tiatrist as the mother was great. She has once again displayed that age is just a number and what is required to be on stage is the talent to perfoem. Sonia Diniz was overdressed or rather badly dressed. Rons Tavares excelled in his cameo but he and Sonia needs to practice their canto properly as missing the rhythm or singing off pitch is not what is expected from top artistes like them.
Music/songs
The tiatr opens with a song on Fr. Victor sung beautifully by Tony de Ribandar. Though he claims in the lyrics that it is the opening Chorus, he should probably take a class or two from competition tiatrists as to what an opening Chorus is and how it should be composed. The songs are mostly political with everybody being preoccupied with the sickness of our Chief Minister and the urine bag he carries. The songs were sickening as singer after singer using images or lyrics that were Parrikar bashing. This is precisely the reason why tiatr needs a censor board. As these so called political singers have lost their sense of propriety and prudence in composing songs. The duet on ‘Saibinmai’ is badly researched and was an attempt toplay with the feelings of the audience. The surprise package was the solo of Rons Tavares ‘Rakhonn Kor Othmeachi’ which was not only well composed but beautifully rendered. The other songs worth listening is a comedy solo by a newcomer and a quartet by Olga, Tony Rons and Anil. The audience however missed a duo from Prince Jacob and Supremo Humberto.
Direction
Well directed script and well enacted presentation. The tiatr can be staged at any time of the year. But why did the director choose the Lenten Season to release this tiatr is a mystery. Nevertheless the clean comedy and good play is worth watching.
