Proscenium Theatre

Most importantly, the Parsi theatre introduced the concept of the proscenium theatre in India where traditional theatre performances were held with a central stage and audiences were seated all around it. Even the actors would enter into the stage through the audience. Parsi theatre (or Company Nataka, as it was known in Eastern India for its association with the East India Company), while incorporating the themes and stories of traditional Indian theatre, started using the Western concept of the stage with actors frontally addressing the audiences from a stage which was closed on all three sides, ushering us into the now-prevalent format of the theatre stage. This paved the way for the camera to record the scenes from the point of the view of the audience in the front row. With a central stage and audiences on all sides, the camera - which was so heavy in those days that it had to be stationary - could not have captured the performance on-stage. Thus, the Parsi theatre helped make the transition from traditional Indian theatre to cinema, not only in terms of thematics but also in formal terms.