Theatre in English is beginning to rear its head strongly in Goa. Suddenly, the wide expanse of desert is putting out encouraging shoots. And Goan audiences are helping to nurture the growth by attending the performances. Tuesday, November 15 was a proud day for English theatre in Goa. A successful Konkani tiatr was staged in an English adaptation at the Kala Academy for a large very appreciative audience. Here for the first time was an English play which presented a slice of Goan life with authentic flavour.

Irene Cardozo, a very talented lady, featured everywhere – script adaptation, costumes, lead actress – with a high level of achievement in each area. Her finely tuned portrayal of a misguided holier-than-thou unconsciously hypocritical social worker, Rosa, with an eye on winning God and public notice was a delight throughout. Only an actress with a sense of timing and precise control of vocal nuance and body language can succeed.

The director, Tomazinho Cardozo, was able to keep his “The Verdict” cast truly Goan in their accents and mannerisms. The script deliciously captured the behaviours, attitudes, speech patterns and mannerisms of a wide cross-section of Goans. It mirrored the hypocrisy, the pettiness, the clash of religious-societal values against the simple honesty of the humble fisherlady, Serafna ( Joslyn Mesquita) and a blind muslim, Abdul Chacha (Mathias Mascarenhas) – both very natural strong performances..

Shivanand Naik brought engaging charm and busy energy to Pasku, the wide-eyed fence -sitting opportunist, blind to everything else. Manahar Redkar humanised Damu, the self-nurturing power person with double standards. The other characters did justice to their societal and religious representative roles.

The stage setting, background music and lighting deserve high praise for being innovative. In the first Act, the traditional painted backcloth was refreshingly replaced by a set design that enabled a rapid change from the central outdoor scene to two interior scenes – Rosa’s house (left) and Damu’s office (right). Lighting enabled the easy shifts from one location to another. But what really impressed me was the subtlety of each scene. There were three distinct arenas in Rosa’s house – her prayer room, her husband’s bedroom (offstage!) and the hall. The parallel action taking place inside the office as well as in the outer waiting room was handled very effectively in this scene and in Act II. Here the set presented the polarities of Heaven and Hell and echoed the content and action admirably.

Tomazinho deserves the highest praise for very effective stage management. His grouping of characters, stage placements and the juxtapositions of characters to achieve the most effective dialogue interactions had me jumping with joy. Having directed many plays myself, it was exciting to see a master at work. There were a few lapses occasionally but overall, the direction was excellent.

The background music was very much a part of the action like a movie soundtrack and the lighting underlined the action. The sinners being welcomed by the dancing crackling flames of hell was a nice touch. A great first made possible by the numerous sponsors. We await the next venture into successful English theatre in Goa.