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Goa’s Mustard Seed Art Company brings us its latest offering of theatrical entertainment and, as always, food for thought. The newest play, Anybody Home?, is based on the life of Goan stalwart, polymath and polyglot, Francisco Luis Gomes.
A veritable genius and skilled orator, who was passionate in serving his fellow Goans through his social and political work, Francisco Luis Gomes was Goa’s first representative in Portugal’s parliament.
Educated at the Escola Medico Cirurgica da Goa as a medical doctor, he once called for freedom, saying, “I was born in the East Indies, once the cradle of poetry, philosophy and history and now their tomb. I belong to the race which composed the Mahabharata and invented chess. The two works of sublimate eternity. But, that nightingale which once rented the heavens is fluttering its wings against the cage which holds it captive. I ask for my country light and liberty.”
Gomes made a mark as the writer of the first Goan novel in Portuguese, Os Brahmanes, published in Lisbon in 1866, criticising colonialism and the caste system.
Gomes made a mark as the writer of the first Goan novel in Portuguese, Os Brahmanes, published in Lisbon in 1866, criticising colonialism and the caste system.
Playwright Isabel Santa Rita Vas, founder of the Mustard Seed Art Company, who was inspired by the man’s phenomenal abilities and his great works, says, “Francisco Luis Gomes was a great Goan, who spoke about liberty and light. We cannot afford to forget him or people like him.”
Kiran Bhandari, a Mustard Seed Art Company regular, plays Magnod, a character from Francisco Luis Gomes’ Os Brahmanes.
He says, “The play is about Francisco Luis Gomes, but the theme of the play is about what is home for each person.”
He elaborates saying that for a writer or someone who enjoys writing, writing is home for that person. If you are a teacher and that is your passion, then teaching is home for you.
He elaborates saying that for a writer or someone who enjoys writing, writing is home for that person. If you are a teacher and that is your passion, then teaching is home for you.
Anybody Home? has a cast of four, with Neha Khaunte as Nandini, Shimona de Costa e Fernandes as Salvita, Kiran Bhandari as Magnod, and Rohan Olegario Nazareth as Francisco Luis Gomes.
The play is directed by Isabel SR Vas and Rohan Olegario Nazareth. It has a duration of one hour and there are no tickets.
So, why not witness a part of this eminent Goan’s life through this short play by the Mustard Seed Art Company? You are bound to leave the production better informed and encouraged to make a difference.
Anybody Home? will be performed at the following locations:
Sensible.Earth, Salvador do Mundo, Bardez: September 16 @ 6.30pm
Goa University, Taleigao: September 18 @ 4 pm
Don Bosco, Panjim: September 20 @ 6.30 pm
Big Foot Goa, Loutolim: September 21 @ at 5.30 pm
Rosary College, Navelim: September 25 @ 12.30 pm