Much awaited and much publicized 21st Konkani Tiatro (Drama) “KUWAIT SODDUN VETANA” written and directed by the well-known Goan playwright Rosary Ferns was successfully staged on Friday 16th of this month at Hawally A/C Hall, Kuwait. Witnessed by the huge crowd, the Tiatro started at 4.30 pm instead of at 3.30 as officially announced. Excellent script with excellent messages given in the play by Rosary Ferns for the Kuwaitkars. Such a Tiatro and such messages have never in the history of Kuwait Tiatro been scripted before. These messages should have been given by our Church leaders from the Pulpit but they did not. Where our Church leaders failed, Tiatro Stage succeeded. Church is duty bound to guide the faithfuls in a right direction but neither our local priests nor the visiting priests guided us properly. The visiting priests when they come to Kuwait their main motto is to fulfill their selfish obligation and not to guide the community in a right way to face any eventuality. For this reason we the overwhelming majority of Goan Catholics suffered economically during the invasion of Kuwait leading many of us into misery.Though all the visiting professional Tiatrists performed well yet the locals especially the amateurs deserve highest compliments for performing their respective roles so wonderfully. In this context, I must mention the excellent role played by Clara Rodrigues as a Kuwait returnee maid. Delivery and clarity of her statements were very appropriate. Both the young girls Riana and Atia the daughter of Tony de Pomburpa as heroines did deserving justice for their beautiful roles. With their youthful looks and attractive appearance they easily captured the hearts of the audience. Riana having the figure of a model and clear serene voice of a princess attracted more attention. Their attractive partners Xavier Furtado and Joseph played their roles much to the satisfaction of the audience. Their elegant presentation and every move and word was measured to the perfection. The last scene of the Tiatro was very interesting where thru Slide depiction Fr. Nevel was shown celebrating the Mass. The display of the Kuwait City Church was excellent.
Seasoned artiste Laurente Pereira once again proved that he is one of the best artistes not only in Kuwait but also on Konkani Stage. His role opposite to young and handsome Kewin Vaz as father and son deserves plaudits, so too of Kewin for performing so well when he was inducted at the eleventh hour. The role of a Kuwaiti played by Bernardo Fernandes was very appropriate and I don’t think there is anybody in Kuwait who can play such an appropriate role. Salu Faleiro displayed his genius in performing extremely well the role of a Bangladeshi Cleaner. With his genuine dress code carrying the Container of wastes and speaking in Bengali dialect he surprised everyone. He was gifted with cash prize money by a member of the audience. In a similar way other artistes who received cash prize money were Sylvester Vaz, Fr. Nevel and comedian Selvy. Though small yet very diligent role of an elderly man was played by Bab Agnelo besides singing a solo. The role played by Marcus Vas opposite to Katty de Navelim as father and son was very interesting.
Hitman Sylvester Vaz, his wife Irene and Cajetan de Sanvordem shouldered the major responsibilities of this Tiatro. Irene left no stone unturned to give her best as mother of two young men. Sylvester Vaz and Cajetan de Sanvordem both played their part well in giving excellent messages to the audience based on the happenings in our community. These are not only messages but cautious alerts for all Goans working in Kuwait scripted by the director Rosary Ferns. The messages conveyed by Cajetan de Sanvordem had better delivery and excellent clarity in keeping up with his tradition as one of the best speakers in Kuwait amongst Konkani speaking people. He got special talent in delivering speeches with his mellifluent tongue and charismatic voice and in this Tiatro Rosary Ferns as director beautifully tapped the resources of Cajetan. It was not he alone, in fact Rosary Ferns as a clever and unselfish director gave every local artiste an opportunity to give his or her best. On the other hand it was nice to see all the local artistes in forgetting their petty differences showed their total affiliation and solidarity to Rosary Ferns not only in staging this wonderful Tiatro but also to raise the level of our Tiatro to the pedestal. Unity is the hallmark of the success and only thru such a strong show of unity we can promote our Tiatros successfully.
The hilarious comedy played by the fantastic comedians of Konkani Stage namely John D’Silva and Selvy created peals of laughter in the hall. Rarely such an uproar witnessed in the hall when both these comedians entered the stage, they looked like born comedians.
Among the side show songs, Lawry Travasso’s both solos were good. Second solo he rendered by mixing up with the audience where he was fabulously applauded by the people. Katty de Navelim’s solo and trio with Rosary and Joseph were much appreciated by the audience. Katty de Navelim displayed his singing talent extremely well as never seen before. Again credit goes to director Rosary Ferns in exposing the talents of his artistes. Francis de Tuem rendered Goan political solos while Marcus Vaz rendered his solo based on dirty politics Tiatrists do in Goa to destroy other tiatrists. The quintet of Marcus Vaz with Francis de Tuem, Cajetan de Sanvordem, Selvy and Sylvester Vaz was fabulously applauded by the audience. John de Silva and Selvy rendered a duo while Marcus Vaz, Laurente Pereira and Cajetn de Sanvordem rendered a trio. Fr. Nevel in addition to his Solo also rendered a trio with Sylvester and Irene, both based on Christian doctrine. Besides, Sylvester Vas rendered separately one solo. Among all the side show songs, the most interesting and admiring song was of Rosary Ferns’ solo on the late Sanny de Quepem where in philosophical words he showed his gratitude to the departed soul. While singing the slide depiction on the stage of Sanny’s photos in past tiatros were found very interesting.
The musical score provided by Shahu and his troupe was worthy of admiration. Never in the past I noticed Shahu playing so wonderfully. It sounded like an Orchestra. He was also playing Saxaphone besides Organ. Sound System provided by John Furtado was flawless which gave an extra booster for this Tiatro. Stage setting by Tomas – Leckinson Arts – deserves credit.
As an added attraction, a nice Souvenir was provided to the audience where besides especial thanking message by the director, entire Programme of the show was disclosed. Thru this Souvenir one could make out that this Tiatro was patronized by some of the top business houses and personalities in Kuwait. During the interval thru the hands of Fr. Nevel, Lawry Travasso released his 2 CD’s.
A. Veronica Fernandes,
Kuwait.
