The Colonial Public and the Parsi Stage: The Making of the Theatre of Empire (1853-1893)

The Colonial Public and the Parsi Stage: The Making of the Theatre of Empire (1853-1893)
The Colonial Public and the Parsi Stage is the first comprehensive study of the Parsi theatre, colonial South and Southeast Asia’s most influential cultural phenomenon and the precursor of the Indian cinema industry. By providing extensive, unpublished information on its first actors, audiences, production methods, and plays, this book traces how the theatre―which was one of the first in the Indian subcontinent to adopt European stagecraft―transformed into a pan-Asian entertainment industry in the second half of the nineteenth century. Nicholson sheds light on the motivations that led to the development of the popular, commercial theatre movement in Asia through three areas of investigation: the vernacular public sphere, the emergence of competing visions of nationhood, and the narratological function that women served within a continually shifting socio-political order. The book will be of interest to scholars across several disciplines, including cultural history, gender studies, Victorian studies, the sociology of religion, colonialism, and theatre.

Author/Editor

Rashna Darius Nicholson

Publisher

PALGRAVE MACMILLAN

ISBN

978-3-030-65835-9

Publication date

1 Jan 2021 – 31 Dec 2021

Specialisation

Humanities

Theme

Art and Culture

Region

Global Asia (Asia and other parts of the World)
Inter-Asia
South Asia
India