Goa tiatr lovers give 'Sucorina' third curtain call

It took tiatrist Menino De Bandar just a few moments to decide that his most-loved tiatr, Sucorina, should see the light of day one more time.

The tiatr was first released on October 14, 1984 and within a year there were 300 performances in Goa and in neighbouring States. In 2015, 31 years later, it had a second release, this time touching 309 shows. It is not without reason that Menino de Bandar is known as the King of Triple Centuries.

Now, on July 14, Menino de Bandar re-released the same tiatr, but this time not with commercial tiatrists, he has brought college students to the stage.

“It is an effort to keep the Konkani language alive through tiatr and youngsters. It was when, late Mario Menezes and I started going to schools to promote tiatrs that we realised that there is a lot of potential in these youth. They have the talent to act and the ability to learn. That is when I decided to re-release my famous tiatr, with young talent,” says the proud and happy Menino De Bandar, who has directed tiatrs like Duddu Ani Gyaan, but says Sucorina ‘was based on a book’.

The students acting in Sucorina are from various colleges including Parvatibai Chowgule College Of Arts & Science, Rosary College of Commerce and Arts, College in Navelim, and Dhempe College in Panjim.

The tiatr revolves around the death of a mother who had a one-year-old child and the story is churned around who committed the crime. But, did you know this famous tiatr was also trialled in court?

“When people watched the tiatr, there were some who said that it’s based on a true story, on a girl from Colva. There was a defamation case against me. It was a very overwhelming experience. I had a few lawyers and there were tiatrists like John Claro Fernandes who came in as witnesses,” says Menino, who said they won the case after almost two years.

From Goa, Menino de Bandar took the tiatr overseas and it was the first to be performed in Dubai. “Before this no one had taken their tiatrs to the UAE. I had the first opportunity to take the entire troupe to Dubai and we performed there four times. It’s an honour,” says Menino.

Talking about the fame the tiatr received over the years, Menino says, “People would come to my house to book shows. There was a time that people broke down the barricades to watch the show. It would be housefull many times.” He feels that no tiatr can break the records Sucorina has set.

Talking of the current tiatr scene he says, “There are more tiatrists directing shows and fewer people. It’s not me, it’s that people showed the tiatr so much love that it got so many views. In fact I used to feel as if it was a dream.”

Signing off, Menino de Bandar says, “The opening scene, where a cow is seen feeding milk to an abandoned child, still brings tears to people’s eyes and this means there is humanity still left in people.”