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Unearthing the Lost Home of Calcutta Theatre

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David Drummond &

Dhurrumtollah Academy Backdrop At the time when Anglican education was being introduced in Bengali society in late eighteenth century, many belonging to the Hindu community had compromised their religious beliefs and practices. On the other hand, quite a few erudite Englishmen and Europeans, who took to teaching in Bengal, lacked adherence to their religious orders. David Hare was an atheist, a…

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The Home of the National Theatre  

Immortalized in Thomas Daniell’s Gentoo Buildings   Gentoo Buildings: Calcutta from the River Hoogly; Plate 8. By Thomas Daniell, Aquatint, ink and watercolour on paper. 1886. Courtesy of Smithsonian National Museum of Art. Overview This paper aims to establish Thomas Daniell’s aquatint ‘Gentoo Buildings’ created around 1787 as the pleasure house of Russick Krishna Neogy on the river Ghat…

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NATIONAL THEATRE, Calcutta: Myths & Realities

The home of the National Theatre Society on the first floor of the magnificent pleasure house, Bardwari Baithakkhana, Babu Rashik Neogi built on the River Ganges. The image of the run-down 2-storied building may be seen in the famous oil on canvas, Ghentu Residents on Hooghly River that Thomas Daniell had painted in 1788. Courtesy British Library. THE STORY The National Theatre, Calcutta was…

NATIONAL THEATRE, Calcutta: Myths & Realities

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VANISHING ENGLISH THEATRE & the Emerging Bengali Stage in Renaissant Calcutta

Prince of Wales’s Box at the English Theatre. Calcutta. 1875. Courtesy Getty’s Backdrop British ex-pats built ‘Town Calcutta’ replicating London to continue to live in an exclusive English style, shutting out the natives of the land. It may appear a hard saying, yet the fact remains that, even for the natives, Calcutta was an artificial place of residence [Firminger]. The Britishers were…

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Gerasim Lebedev and His Daring Experimental Playhouse

Gerasim Stepanovich Lebedev, 1749-1817. Courtesy Beyond Russia OBJECTIVES Here, in this essay, I will restrict the scope of my discussions to the experimental playhouse Grasim Lebedev founded in 1795 under the banner “Bengally Theatre”. The playhouse was alive only for two gala nights within a range of three months before it was lost into fragments of historical irrelevance. I intend to restore…

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SANS SOUCI

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CHOWRINGHEE THEATRE & ITS ALTER EGO MRS ESTHER LEACH

Chowringhee Theatre. Lithograph (Hand-coloured version on paper). Artist: William Wood. 1833. Courtesy StoryLTD BACKDROP Under the Regulating Act of 1773 Calcutta was established as the seat o…