The talk will provide extensive, unpublished information on the first actors, audiences, production methods, and plays of Parsi theatre. It will trace 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. Dr Nicholson will take us through the making of the theatre, covering the years between 1853 and 1893.

Please note: The Zoom link will be shared a couple of hours before the event. 

About the speaker

Dr Rashna Darius Nicholson is Assistant Professor of Theatre Studies at The University of Hong Kong. She is Barbro Klein Fellow at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study and Luce East Asia Fellow at the National Humanities Center in 2021-22. In addition to her monograph, she is author of articles and book chapters in Theatre Research International, Theatre Survey, TDR: The Drama Review, South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies, The Routledge Companion to Theatre and Performance Historiography, and The Methuen Drama Handbook of Theatre History and Historiography. She was convenor of the IFTR Historiography Working Group between 2017 and 2020.