"TEAG" by Kala Krida Mandal

Teag

When amateurs perform at the tiatr competition, they always seem to have a charm of their own. If one were to ignore certain nervous moments, considering that these artistes are merely hard working villagers from Poinguinim-Canacona, it was nice to see them having a blast although they were performing on stage for the first time.

Presented by the Kala Krida Mandal, Teag was performed by a group of artistes who learnt much of their acting skills under the able guidance of theatre stalwart R B S Komarpant.

Believing in the ideology of creating and promoting more new talent, rather than giving some great performances with professional artistes, Komarpant's work will surely go places. Garnering support from Anthony Pio Fernandes on the lights, the first glimpse of fresh elements used in this tiatr came out with the band - with Agnelo Furtado playing some interesting new tones on the keyboard. Furtado was ably backed by Anthony Fernandes on the trumpet, Cruz Coutinho on sax, Antonio Fernandes on guitar and Ivo Furtado on drums.

"Where else will these guys experiment if not here?" were the words of tiatr's showman Prince Jacob, further encouraging the amateurs with his loud applause. "This is the best place to make mistakes and learn from them," he added.

The story seemed long and winding, but in brief it was about the sacrifices made by parents for their children. As the play progressed and the family turned from impoverished to wealth, sets designed by Denzil D'Costa added the right colour and character to the contrasting lifestyles.

Wealth, they say, inevitably brings along unwanted baggage. Likewise, when money power gets to the head of the son of the house, his behaviour is not appreciated - even by the audience. And the mother, around whom the story revolves, inorder to please her son reluctantly agrees to have her xet-bhat' (landed properties) sold and house renovated from their ancient ethnic look to a modern pad. A teacher by profession, the mother also decides to resign from her job after her self-esteem is hurt by some politics.

While many think that mother would be supported and cared for by her son, the opposite happens. The play, which ends in a tragedy with the ungrateful son asking his mother to leave the house, has a clear message by the end thoughthat of one's responsibility towards aging parents.

Penned by Anthony Fernandes, Teag had stellar performances by Liberta Fernandes, Joliba Fernandes, Antonette D'Costa, Albino, Anthony Pereira and Jose Fernandes. The comedy, however, was written by Agnelo Furtado de Fatorda, who was well supported by his sidekick whose plans to put his master in problems keep failing with every changing situation, much to the amusement of the spectators. His master is called Bosteanv and is a tailora character with a black moustache, whitish hair and a physical defect that has him constantly thrusting his pelvic.

Cajie de Curtorim sang a decent solo on a reggae beat, while Seby Rebello sang a political solo predicting a BJP government next. William de Curtorim was conspicuous with his presence, singing one of his songs a la Young Menezes style (non-stop in the same breath). Rocky Dais while paying tribute to the previous generation of tiatrists in his self-composed song, tried to drive home the point that nobody could really to take on their sobriquets of tragedy king or melody king.

(Times of India, Goa Edition)