Tiatr in Kuwait received a great push when Alfred Rose and his wife Rita Rose visited in 1975. Training the artistes residing in Kuwait, Alfred Rose staged two tiatrs, one of which went on to become a famed tiatr presentation under the title “Angounnechi Vokol”
Tiatr; the mere word brings smiles and cheers to all Goans irrespective of caste, creed or sex. Tiatr is today what it is due to the contribution it received from Goans settled in different parts of the world. It is the influence and patronage of these expatriates that kept the flame of tiatr burning for the last 130 years.
Some years ago, I attended a solidarity meeting in the Menezes Braganza Hall Panaji organised by the Kuwait Konkani Kendra headed by Anthony Veronica Fernandes, to celebrate the anniversary of the liberation of Kuwait from the invaders. One of the speakers among others was our gentleman tiatrist Prince Jacob Fernandes who spoke in length about the patronage he received from the Kuwaitkars whenever he visited Kuwait with his troupe or individually to act in tiatrs presented by the Goans in Kuwait.
After World War II, Kuwait opened its doors to Indians and in the 1950s, a sizeable number of Goans were in service there. Grey Mczeina Company was one of the first Kuwaiti companies that hired intellectual Goans. Living in a land far away from their own was surely a herculean task and the Goans living there thought of their own culture and decided to stage a tiatr for the ‘divertiment’ of Goans in domicile. In 1958, a gentleman from Bastora Mr Monteiro, working in an officers cadre, took up the responsibility of writing a tiatr. He received great support and patronage from Anthony Fernandes alias Lapitt, a man of influence, who was working in the Kuwait Oil Company, to look after the logistics of staging the tiatr. The tiatr staged received great patronage from the Konkani-speaking Goan as well as the Manglorean community and thereafter many Konkani musical shows were organised in quick succession. Translation of Shakespeare plays in Konkani were also presented thereafter.
Joseph Cipriano D’Souza from Oxem Siolim, a great actor, composer and singer carried forward the work initiated by Mr Monteiro. The 1960s saw the emergence of tiatr in strength with Tony Cabral from Santa Cruz ward of Orda Candolim, popularly known in tiatr circles as Tony Cal, donning the mantle of the tiatr writer. Tony Cal worked in the British Embassy and owing to his good nature and efficiency at work in the Embassy, he was a man of great influence.
Before taking up a job in Kuwait when in Goa, Tony Cal was the blue-eyed boy of Alexinho de Candolim’s troupe and was known as a reputed singer of ‘decent claun.’ He staged over 5 tiatrs that were attended by top bureaucrats and officers. Tony Cal along with his wife Josephina also had the unique honour and distinction of acting in an Arabic TV serial, that was telecast in those days. His uninterrupted and zealous efforts to stage tiatrs of quality and high standards coupled with the support he gave to the other directors of the times, gave tiatr a firm footing in Kuwait and encouraged the Goans settled in Bahrain and other Gulf countries to promote tiatr and tiatr related activities in their area of residence. Tony Cal is today referred to as the pioneer of Konkani Tiatr in Kuwait.
Tiatr received a great push when Alfred Rose and his wife Rita Rose visited Kuwait in 1975. Training the artistes residing in Kuwait, Alfred Rose staged two tiatrs, one of which went on to become a famed tiatr presentation under the title “Angounnechi Vokol”.
Tiatr and tiatr-related activities saw good days and later the first non-stop drama/Khell Tiatr was presented in Kuwait, the details of which we shall see in our subsequent feature. Eminent tiatrists like the smiling gentleman, Cajetan de Sanvordem, Marcus Vaz and Xavier Gomes were a famed trio of the times who continued their tiatr work in Goa after retirement.
Tiatrists who visited Kuwait from Goa or Mumbai would often stay at the residence of Anthony Veronica, the fearless tiatr critic from Candolim, who also has a lion's share in the promotion and development of tiatr in Kuwait.
