Centrestage

Forthcoming in India in December 2025. Will be available in the rest of the world in February 2026.

An authoritative perspective on the evolution and politics of theatre performance in and beyond India.

In Centrestage, theatre scholar Ananda Lal presents a compelling collection of essays encompassing over thirty years of research, reflection, and firsthand engagement with performance. From the emergence of Indian drama in English in the mid-nineteenth century to the diverse and sometimes contentious plays of the twenty-first century, Lal explores a two-hundred-year trajectory of Indian and intercultural theatre with clarity and insight. The first part of the volume examines Indian theatre history, proceeding from the colonial era to the contemporary scene in Kolkata and current theatre pedagogy in India. The second part delves into the provocative world of intercultural theatre, interrogating global academic representations of Indian performance and the work of such celebrated directors as Peter Brook and Tim Supple.