Social Attitude towards Theatre Actresses in 19th Century Bengal

The 19 th century the ‘age of reasons and reform’ in Bengal saw the question of the theatre actress come to the forefront. With the gradual introduction of the female actress on the stage, they became the figure head on whom the ambivalences and contradictions of the age was manifested. The colonial government had set out to ‘civilize’ the ‘barbaric’ India. The performing artists who had a close association with the courtesan class became the target of the colonizers. Theatre activity was first undertaken by the newly educated Bengali middleclass, who shared the same view of their colonial masters regarding the theatre actresses. The first generation of Bengali actresses remained marginalized in the theatre space. Socially stigmatized and exploited on and off stage, these theatre actresses remained a pawn in the whole set of rules formed by the urban educated middleclass society.