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Tiatr is a type of musical theatre that is popular in the state of Goa on the west coast of India, as well as in Mumbai and among expatriate communities in the Middle East, United Kingdom, and other cities with a significant presence of Konkani speakers. The plays are primarily performed in the Romi Konkani dialects and incorporate elements such as music, dance, and singing. Individuals who perform in tiatr are referred to as tiatrists.
2018 stamp sheet dedicated to the 125th anniversary of the Goantiatr
The word tiatr comes from the Portuguese word for theatre, teatro. Earlier variations of the word were theatro, thiatro, and tiatro.
Description
Tiatr today focuses on social, religious, and political themes, serving as a reflection of Goan culture. The drama is divided into six or seven acts, known as pordhe, which are interspersed with songs. These songs aren’t always directly connected to the plot or issues of the main drama, and usually, two or three songs are performed between each act.
Tiatrists have always demonstrated a very high degree of social awareness. Most of the themes of tiatr are concerned with social problems confronting the people. Despite centuries of Portuguese suppression and post-liberation neglect from the state governments, tiatr as an art form has not just survived but thrived and reinvented itself in many ways.
A tiatrist during a performance, 2011
Tiatr as a dramatic form has been traditionally dominated and patronised by the Christian community, but over the years several young Hindu artists have been performing in the tiatr, which are also seen by people from the Hindu community.
Songs
Songs integral to the plays are known as kants. Other songs, called kantaram, are generally either comedic or based on topical, political and controversial issues that are interspersed through the performance. These musical interludes are independent of the main theme of the play. The songs are often satirical and unsparing of the politics and politicians of Goa. The music is provided by a live band including keyboard, trumpet, saxophone, bass guitar and drums.
Khell Tiatr
A variant of tiatr, called khell tiatr, is performed exclusively during the festivals of Carnival, Intruz, and Easter. Unlike the traditional Konkani tiatr, khell tiatr integrates its songs into the main drama, ensuring that the content of the songs does not deviate from the story.
History
Prior to the emergence of tiatr, entertainment in Konkani mainly revolved around zagors and khells, each of which had a distinct style. While the zagor was more lyrical, the khell featured dialogues. While the former was more popular in Bardez; the latter was more entrenched in Salcete.
Costancio Lucasinho Caridade Ribeiro, better known as Lucasinho Ribeiro, who was from Assagao, was seeking employment in Bombay. Passionate about the performing arts, he was highly impressed with the stylised Italian operas performed there. He took up a job for an Italian opera troupe which was touring Indian cities at the time, staging an opera called Italian Boy. When the troupe left India, Lucasinho Ribeiro bought the costumes used in the play with the intention of staging a Konkani play on the style of the Italian Opera. His collaborators in the effort were Caetaninho Fernandes of Taleigao and João Agostinho Fernandes of Borda, Margao.
On Easter Sunday, 17 April 1892, the first-ever tiatr performance, Italian Bhurgo, adapted from the Italian play, was staged at the New Alfred Theatre, Bombay. This day is celebrated as Tiatr Dis (Tiatr Day). Hence, the Goan art form of tiatr was the product of the meeting of Goan culture and the opera of Italy. Since there were many different scenes in this tiatr and it required different stage sets, they thought of dropping the curtain and performing songs and dances in front of it. This was needed to entertain the audience while the stage setting was being done behind the curtain. These songs and dances did not have any relevance to the theme of the play.
The first original tiatr script was written and directed by João Agostinho Fernandes in 1895 in Bombay and was titled Belle de Cavel or Sundori Cavelchi. For all his consistent devotion and encouragement over fifty years, Fernandes was conferred the title Pai Tiatrist (Father Tiatrist). Regina Fernandes, wife of the playwright João Agostinho Fernandes, became the first female tiatr actor in Bhattkara on 22 November 1904. Divorce, a tiatr written and directed by Airistides Dias, was the first konkani tiatr to complete 100 performances on 5 October 1980.
However, as time passed, the standard of zagor as well as Khell deteriorated in quality with the introduction of elements of vulgarity. Educated people stopped patronising the zagor as well as the khell. While tiatr was growing in popularity, its original forms – the zagors and the khells – were slowly fading away; the zagor completely stopped being performed while the khells continued.
In 1956 the khell underwent a dramatic change. Given its state at that time, Antonio Moraes thought it fit to take the khell from the street performance to a stage performance. Helped by his friend and colleague Antonio Marian, the khell was performed on a stage for the first time with a backdrop and other paraphernalia associated with theatre. The first khell tiatr, Sandlolo Put, written and directed by Antonio Moraes, was staged on the third day of Carnival of March 1956. However, this form became very popular only in the 1970s when Rosario Rodrigues coined the term khell tiatr and came up with extremely successful shows. Thus, the ground-based plays known as khells evolved onto the stage and further into 'non-stop dramas'. They have now generally dropped this label and are generally referred to as tiatrs.
Tiatr contributed to keeping the Konkani language alive during Portuguese colonial rule, when Konkani was suppressed. Tiatrists played a major role in the struggle to make Konkani the official language of Goa.
In 2007, the Government of Goa started the Tiatr Academy of Goa to facilitate the development of tiatr. In 2008 legislation was approved granting 15 lakh (1,500,000) rupees to the newly formed Tiatr Academy of Goa.
Tiatr today
Besides the regular commercial shows, tiatrs are held as part of the celebrations of nearly every church and chapel feast in the state. The Goa Kala Academy organises a state-level tiatr competition every year while the Tiatr Academy organises a popular tiatr competition for dramas which has exceeded 25 performances. Tiatr songs and performances are recorded and sold on CD and DVD in Goan and Middle Eastern markets. Although efforts have been made to preserve the art form as a tradition of Goa, there have been calls for greater recognition of Mumbai-based tiatrists.
Fernandes, André Rafael (2010). When the curtains rise... Understanding Goa's vibrant Konkani theatre. Goa: Goa 1556, with the Tiatr Academy of Goa. p. xiv. ISBN978-93-80739-01-4.
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Tiatrists performing on stage, 2010
A tiatr performance, 2011
