Dovornnem - By Agnelo L Fernandes (Agnelo Borim) What is life full of care? We have no time to stand and stare, Wrote William Henry Davies.
Indeed, we live our life in a fast lane. We Goans who are said to have a susegad and laid back attitude to live are also steadily getting sucked into the culture of the rat race. Living at the speed of life that we cannot slow down, always haunted by the finishing line, life seems to have become a ride that seems to head nowhere. Before we meet a dead end, it is time to slow down and look at the bigger picture of life. The new tiatr of Agnelo (Borim), Dovornnem challenges us to do exactly this. He appears to have picked up the right place where we seem to have been schooled and fooled to live our life in the fast lane. Along with his ever energetic and refreshing set of artistes, thought provoking and insightful inputs of Rev. Dr. Victor Ferrao and resourceful as well as agile direction of Avinash Chari, Agnelo Borim and Ami Daizi Fatorda are all set to entertain the audience and forcefully drive home a vital and relevant message. As we are faced with a very real threat of loss of the richness of our Goan Culture, Dovornnem opens a rejuvenating leaf from our cultural life. Indeed, the word Dovornnem is literally untranslatable but evokes a profound past as well illumines our present anxieties and promises a serene future. Dovornnem of the yester years was a site of rest and re-energization. Our ancestors carrying loads of goods on their head would stop and unload their heavy burdens on it. It not only became a space of rest but also became a space of independence as the Dovornnem become a reliable site to both to unload and lift ones load without any help from outside. Agnelo (Borim) attempts to take us on a reflective journey into the present scenario of our life and reminds us that we all need Dovornnem to remain, sane and calm in our circumstances of life today. To drive home this message, he takes up the context of education which seems to school us into a life in the fast lane. The tiatr Dovornnem attempts to present how the enabling and liberating potentials of education are suffocated and stifled by systems and practices that have converted education into a ladder to jump into the life in the fast lane. The Tiatr interrogates the system that indoctrinates and domesticates the students to live their life as dependent citizens. The thrill and ecstasy of learning in the young children is literally nipped in the bud by a system that basis its teaching and learning strategies solely on reward and punishment techniques and fails to let the children to think and learn. This infantalization of the child in the classroom has converted our class rooms into spaces of passive knowledge consumption and in fact students learn without being taught to become dummy citizens of our consumerist world. While questioning the reigning model of Education, the tiatr makes a plea for a child-centric, teacher-student dialogic relationship driven education that would convert the class room into a space of active learning and collaborative knowledge production. The tiatr shows the crippling and disabling effects of present system of learning which converts us into deductive people whose assumptions are already set for us and we seem to have not ability to question them. Agnelo ( Borim) creatively brings the importance of Dovornnem by putting into play a family plot that consists of three generations. These three levels of generation, the grand father Celstinho, his son Antonio, Two grand daughters Leah and Zeeta and a grandson are shown to be tossed by the demands of life while the grand father is challenged to lend his shoulder like the Dovornnem to everyone. The son being captured by the consumerist culture views education as a great business opportunity and is set to put education for sale. His two daughters along with their grandfather and the domestic helper Ramfu gate crash into his plans. To find how the plot unfolds see Dovornnem that will be staged on 23rd September, 2013 at 7p.m. at DMKM Kala Academy Panjim. The Tiatr Dovornnem is scripted by Agnelo Borim has the concept by Rev. Dr. Victor Ferrao, Directed by Avinash Chari, Music arrangements by Rev. Fr. Simon Cunha, stage set by Pobre Dias with Dovornnem designed and erected by Raymond a creative artiste from Colva and an alumni of Shanti Niketan,Kolkata, background music and stage lights designed by Avinash, is propped by talented actors like Rupesh Jogle, Ivy Pereira e Albuquerque, Armando Fernandes, Raphael Rodricks, Natasha Noronha, Kimberly Gomes and Pobre Dias. The set of singers consists of Nazario Pinto, Francis Pinto, Bernard Noronha, Sachin Moraes, Linette Baptista, Webly Gomes, Andrew Pereira, Junisha, Denzil Fernandes. The lyrics of songs are by Francis Pinto, Nazario Pinto, Fr. Simon D Cunha, Marcus Vaz, Tomas Pereira and Agnelo Borim The live band has Cresto Rodricks on Trumpet, Alex Afonso on tenor Saxophone, Snedden Pereira and Sanford on violins, Mariano Furtado on Rhythm Guitar, Vilson Pinto on Bass and John de Maddel on Drums. Post by Agnelo Borim on Facebook group Tiatrist Fan Group - the group that updates Regularly on Konkani tiatrs..http://www.facebook.com/groups/116242025069015/ Dev Borem Korum Eddie Verdes
