Goa tiatr review: ‘A Silent Echo’, a true story of faith and resilience
The tiatr, A Silent Echo, by writer, director Antonet de Sousa carries a fine, intelligent script and sleek direction. Teenagers, youth and amateur artistes, alike, delivered exceptional performances in the tiatr.
ABOUT THE TIATR
The story revolves around Ravi (Salil Naik), a seafarer by profession, and his spouse, Suzanne (Antonet de Sousa), who is a housewife. Every time Ravi makes a trip overseas, Suzanne misses her spouse, and on his return home after six months, her joy is doubled.
Once aboard the ship, in Ravi’s absence, there’s Paulin (Daffodil Fernandes) and her husband Pedru (Edmund Dias), who reside in the same house, and take care of Suzanne and her two sons – Shawn (McAiden/Webster) and Shane (Valanko/Errol) – who are growing under the care and guidance of their caring mother.
Over time, Suzanne experiences her third pregnancy, but the doctor predicts complications for, both, mother and child.
With Ravi absent, unable to provide moral support, Suzanne resolves to face all the challenges alone in her determination to save the pregnancy.
After a routine checkup, the doctors express concern about the survival of the unborn child, as there are no movements or heartbeats, leaving Suzanne perplexed. Despite this, she refuses to lose hope, and her unwavering faith gives her the strength to stand firm and strong like a rock.
Despite the challenges and her husband’s absence, Suzanne is determined to face the hardships alone, refusing to accept defeat. What follows next is worth the watch in the second half of the drama.
Despite undergoing two heart surgeries, Shannon, now a teenager, continues to thrive, living with a rare heart condition shared by only five people in the world.
BEHIND THE SCENES
The tiatr, A Silent Echo, is based on a true story. The third child in the family was born still, who later came to life due to the staunch faith and steadfast hope of the parents.
Salil and Antonet stand out on stage as the lead couple. There’s Valerian, Maria, Francis, Marisha who have extended good support to the main cast.
For some laughter moments, there’s Pauline (Daffodil Fernandes) and Pedru (Edmund Dias) who entertain as a couple with a good dose of laughter pills. There’s clean comedy throughout the show.
In the section of renditions, all categories have been covered, namely, solos, duo, duet, trio and quartet, with songs by Maria, Marisha, Samaira, Vanessa, Errol, Webster, Shawn, Maverick, Svetlana and Mikhail.
A few more rehearsals would have yielded better results in the renditions. Offstage musicians – Roy Menezes (saxophone), Chagas (trumpet), Wilson Pinto (bass), Cajie (keyboard) and Xavier de Moira (drums) – have performed well.
The stage sets are by Edmund Dias while Tejas Khedekar has handled the light effects. The background music score has been taken care of by Sai Kalangutkar in a professional way.