• ISBN13: 9781803092003
• Binding: Paperback
• Subject: N/A
• Publisher: Seagull Books
• Publisher Imprint: Seagull
• Publication Date: June 12, 2023
• Pages: 240
• Original Price: INR 599.0
• Language: English
• Edition: N/A
• Item Weight: 400 grams

Unrivalled in its long-term impact, Parsi theatre remains a crucial component of South Asia’s cultural heritage. Like vaudeville in America, Parsi theatre dominated mass entertainment in colonial India in the era before cinema. Each night crowds filled the country’s urban playhouses, drawn by the magic of sight and sound. This cosmopolitan theatre brought an unprecedented level of sophistication to the South Asian stage, with its extravagant acting, operatic singing, and melodramatic stage effects. It transformed commercial drama into a modern industry, paving the way for Indian cinema. This volume presents Somnath Gupt’s classic history of Parsi theatre in an English translation enhanced by illustrations, annotations and appendices, which make it a more comprehensive and accurate reference work.

Somnath Gupt was a reputed academic who wrote over a dozen books on Hindi drama, fiction, poetry, and literary criticism. He chaired the Hindi departments at Jasvant College, Jodhpur, and University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, in the 1950s and 1960s.