Whose language is it anyway?

Language, culture, identity...these are pivotal to the Indian political discourse.

Loretta, directed by Sunil Shanbag, asks some relevant questions related to these themes. The play, set in the 70s on a river island in Goa, has Antonio Moraes, a landlord happy in his resplendent home, tended to by caretakers. He is a champion of the Konkani language. So, when his son Rafael returns from Mumbai with his Anglo-Indian girlfriend, Loretta, Antonio demands that the girl learns Konkani to live in the island.

This play, which will be staged at The Hindu Theatre Fest in Chennai, offers audiences a chance to experience tiatr, typical of Goan local theatre. Forty-foot-long curtains turn into backdrops for the story, which is told in six scenes.

The side shows, a tiatr element that reminds you of an older version of stand-up comedy, punctuate each act with a strong dose of satire and music.

Loretta will be staged at Sir Mutha Venkatasubba Rao Concert Hall, Harrington Road, on August 13.

I have been watching tiatr since my college days. It is celebratory, and draws a lot from older theatre traditions. Back then, it was the music and the live bands that drew me into it. And, of course, the Konkani melodies always sounded different from the regular popular music we used to hear. Now, I am almost 35 years old in theatre.

A few years ago, when I was in Goa for a workshop, I renewed my contact with tiatr. What struck me this time were the side shows. The front curtain drops and, a short act, unrelated to the plot of the play, is staged.

For that particular play which I watched, the side shows featured strong political satire topical of the political situation in Goa then. It got me thinking. Because, I am always attracted to popular culture forms that inherently allow sharp satire within their traditions.

One of the criticisms of tiatr is that it has not changed with time. When we decided to employ it, we were clear that we will bring contemporary aesthetics and not recreate a museum version. My production is only inspired by tiatr. You can’t go to Loretta expecting to watch an authentic tiatr production. However, we have used iconic elements of tiatr such as the curtains, music, side shows, and story-telling style. It is our interpretation of tiatr.

I have always enjoyed working with other people. I have always admired Grover’s shows. The side show is a more traditional way of live stand-up comedy. And, it seemed just perfect to ask him to do it. Music is by Ronnie Monsorate, who belongs to a family of Goan musicians in Mumbai.

Asif Ali Bheg, one of my actors, spent most of his early years as a singer in a Goan band, and is also a song writer. Naik had written the script in Konkani. I had Milind Dhaimade, a half-Konkani and half-Maharashtrian filmmaker, on board, to adapt it into English.

Naik is an award-winning writer, but, he has never written a tiatr play. Tiatr in Goa is 99% commercial. Usually, it is about strong moral positions, Goan chauvinism, and caters to the local audience. Naik’s own writing has a strong connect to social reality. I thought it might be interesting to get a person from a non-tiatrbackground to understand tiatr tradition and inject it with his concerns. We wanted to look at something wider. Naik has dealt with language, culture and identity, things we are grappling with in India.

I could see language being a metaphor for what is bothering me. You are told you are an Indian if you do this or not do that. We are constantly being challenged by these simple binaries. In the play, there is a young lady who comes to an island, and is told that the only way she can stay is by learning the regional tongue. Now, when you learn a language, whose language do you want to learn? That of the books or the people? What about the dialects? Is it futile, functional or political to impose one language across the diverse map of this country? Language cuts out for this exploration.

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