The new tiatr from Irineu Gonsalves narrates a tale of love, sacrifice, and tragedy.
Alia and Julius are very much in love. They declare their sincerity before the Holy Cross and take a vow, never to leave one another. She is based in London; he is opening a Goan bakery there. Her mother Maria is a housewife while the father is a gambler, wasting his earnings on betting. Adrian is a doctor, specialising in organ transplant and Jasmine is a nurse, in the same hospital. Alia’s father suddenly dies leaving them in debt. Uncle David helps them out but later demands that Alia should marry his son. When Alia agrees to the marriage, Julius takes to drinking. But will that solve the problem? Both the mothers don’t seem to care about the happiness and love of their children. The rest of the narrative tells of the sorrow and pain encountered, with good and effective messages on organ donation and transplant that can save lives, and on the ill effects of heavy drinking. Gonsalves has put in a lot of research in the script. There is good acting, amusing comedy, some good songs, and a fine band, that packs a punch. Romeo provides light effects to sets by Anthony de Ambajim. Mario, Ricardo, and Peter manage the stage efficiently. Antonette de Maina does well in the role of Alia, especially in the tragic scenes. Rosy Alvares plays her mother and Dolla is the mother of Julius, played well by Willie. Benzer is convincing as Dr. Adrian, Jennifer is Jasmine, the nurse, and Frazer makes an entry as the NGO representative. Alexinho de Morjim plays Uncle David. There is comedy from Semica, Sally, Agnelo, Riston, Nato, and Mario. The scene where Semica is crying over a ‘dead’ body is particularly hilarious.
The top-notch band is led by Sennon (trumpet). Nolvert (trumpet), Seban (bass), John (drums), and Norman (keyboard). The opening is a solo from Jennifer. There are more songs from Rosy, Jennifer, Marcus Vaz, Lawry, Alexinho, Frazer, Jr. Reagan, Francis de Tuem, Nato, Riston, Agnelo, and others.
