The one-man group, Goan Konkani Group, will stage its “musical comedy’ on May 5. This is a back-to-back attempt by none other than Raymond Menezes, popularly known as Jr. Menezes, who some months ago staged Aniz Upai Naslo, which was no other than Boyer’s Ekuch Rosto by another name to fool tiatr-goers.. Jr. Menezes’ is putting up Nach Goemkara, check the flyer and the spelling of the last word. He doesn’t lose the chance to use the “Legend of Canadian Konkani stage” given by the now-defunct Radio Mango, probably for his free radio plays. To me, he is a “Legendary Cheat”, as he “stole” Boyer’s tiatr, not once but twice. The first time he staged this very tiatr under the original name was some years ago, and that too was without “permission”. When Raymond was visiting Goa, he bumped into Boyer in Margao. Boyer thretened to take him to the police statiton, and Raymond was trembling in his pants, as Boyer told me when I met him some years later. He was enquiring whether I knew Menezes and when i said that I knew him he further added that he had just made Menezes feel quilty and that he wasn’t going to take him to the police station. Shamelessly, Menezes did it again. Niether did he tell me, as I wrote two pieces for the brochure he brought out. Nor were the people aware till they saw the tiatr. At the interval, there was so much talk in the corridors that some said they would have never attended if they knew it was the Ekuch Rosto by a different name. No doubt, the sale for Nach Goemkara is slow, perhaps because they have lost trust in Jr. Meneze. when he migrated to Canada and started acting, he was imitating the stage mannerisms of Boyer, including Boyer’s trademark clasping of his hands behind his back and turning his face tow audience in a convulted way. Since Jr. Menezes realized that the tickets were not going as he wished, he has made it mandatory for the cast members to sell ten tickets each. In his greed to make a quick buck, he rushed this musical comedy. He wanted to laughed himself all the way to the bank as he did the last time, as the tiatr was almost sold out. For a long time I have been fighting for the actors here that they they be paid by the writer/director. One tiatrist who met me at a Goan event came to me and said “thanks, because of you I got paid” by Marshal Fernandes, another so-called tiatrist who has his own group, SAM, which stands for Sandre And Marshal. Well, Sandre is ex-wife of Jr. Menezes and has been Marshal’s girl-friend since she split with her husband. In fact, Menezes used to curse Marshal for breaking his marriage. But these arch-enemies are now close buddies, and both are supporting each other. Both will go to any length to make money, with Raymind forgetting the betrayal by Marshal, his one-time friend and now his accomplice in fleecing the Toronto tiatr-goers. Now, both are doing the Fugdi (or tango) and making Toronto tiatr-lovers dance to their tune. In their own dance, they are scratching each other's back, as I saw how cosy they were at the Que Sera Sera movie. The tickets have been increased to $30 (reserved) and $25 (unreserved). Just after Marshal paid the tiatrists, one tiatrist mentioned that the cast of Anik Upai Naslo was paid, but the payment was “rationed.” Doubt if Jr. Menezes would pay the actors this time and, as Marshal did before, when he staged SUN, he will say the show didn’t make any money. Marshal used to hold a party, but he didn’t hold one after SUN. Don’t be surprised, as a next step, these two partners-in-crime ask the actors to pay at least $300 each for giving them an opportunity to act on stage. This would set a new trend in the history of tiatr. On the same day as the tiatr, there’s a Kenya Nite in Toronto, which is expected to draw good crowd from Kenya Goans who are in large number in Toronto.I learnt that on May 6 there's an English drama by a group of retirees, staged by Margaret D'Souza who was the srtistic director of the defunct Goan Theatrical Group (GTG), which put up tiatrs.
Eugene Correia Sent from my iPad
