Just when it seemed the simple social plays of Konkani theatre had become a thing of the past, the Konkani Bhasani Samskriti Samsthan — the apex body of the Konkani language and culture — has revived it on a big scale. Four Konkani plays will be staged at the first-ever Konkani national theatre festival at Mangaluru, the Konkani heartland. The four day festival began yesterday, October 4.
The plays are dedicated to the well known Konkani playwrights Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya, Ramananda Choorya, C.F D’Costa and Hosad Babuti Nayaka. “All the four plays are based on societal ties and values, have simple themes, enhanced by light music and come with messages,” says Basti Vaman Shenoy, the brain behind the Samsthan.
Konkani theatre has a history of 106 years, the first theatre experiment was through the Konkani play, “Chandrahasa” in 1912. Due to the limited linguistic areas only four States have had audience for the plays — Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra and Goa. This, according to Dr. Chandrashekar Shenoy, senior Konkani cultural expert, has restricted the development of this genre. Hence today Konkani theatre lovers are deprived of theatre from places other than their own. The Vishwa Konkani Sangeet Natak Academi formed by Vishwa Konkani Kendra, Mangaluru, is making an effort to connect theatre enthusiasts from different States. This will help development of theatre styles, forms and advances in theatre techniques in all states and all theatre groups. According to Dr. Shenoy, this is the objective of Konkani Theatre festival 2018.
The World Konkani Centre has established Vishwa Konkani Sangeeth Nataka Academy with well-known Konkani drama directors, writers and musicians from Mumbai, Goa, Karnataka and Kerala.
As a first step in the revival of Konkani theatre, troupes from Kerala, Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra will play four plays — ‘Rao Mammle Vohraan,’ ‘Varshak Ek Pavtem,’ ‘Prem Jagor’ and ‘Hoon Udka Ghotu.’ Konkani theatre is known for its humour, which will be present in all the four plays.
