ABSTRACT
There is no denying the fact that Western influence played a pivotal role behind the evolution of modern Indian theatre. The experiments with modern theatre in tune with Western concept and technique were first felt in two opposite parts of India, i.e. Bombay and Bengal. But there were two very significant differences between the experiences of these two regions. Whereas theatre activity in Bombay always received generous financial support from the Parsi capitalists of the region, Bengal’s public theatre at its initial phase never got such support from the moneyed members of the society in an organized form. On the other hand, as the theatrical producers in Bombay always considered the financial viability of those, they chose to stick to the safe path of traditional as well as familiar themes, mostly religious and social, and punctuated with songs, dances and music. But it was a slightly different story in Bengal. Apart from the private theatre of the wealthy Bengalis, there developed slowly but surely a new, stronger trend where there had been a conscious effort to make a perfect blending of the latest Western techniques with that of a new genre of scripts addressing the issues of contemporary political and social life and practices.
