D Anuradha Kapur The earliest proscenium arch theatre to be built in Bombay was the Bombay Amateur Theatre situated on the Bombay Green in 1776. It was modelled on London's Drury Lane Theatre and its cost of construction was met by the European residents. In its early years, it also served as a venue for meetings of the Literary 07 Society, dinners for General Wellesley, subscription balls and public auctions. It was, then, very much at the hub of English social activity/The earliest performance at the Bombay Amateur Theatre seemed to have been Addison's The Drummer in 1797.8 The play, and almost all theatre activity even in later years, was performed by a purely amateur cast. In the notices that appeared in the Bombay Courier of the early 1800s, actors were never mentioned by name but only identified by the characters they played. As English society was then relatively closely knit and homogeneous, women performed in these ventures. By the 1830s, however, women had more or less stopped performing, as Bombay grew in size and a more varied audience began coming to the theatre. In 1821, for instance, a dress box sea.t was bought by Balcrust-nath Sunkerset.9 In 1822, Hormusjee Bomanjee and Sorabji Framji purchased two tickets each for Sheridan's The Rivals10 Farce was usually the most popular fare. Along with that, plays of later Georgian dramatists such as Morion and the younger Coleman were also popular. Duet and songs were performed between acts and in the interval. Shakespeare seems to have been performed rarely — there is a mention of a performance of Richard III in December 1808 in the Bombay Courier11 By 1830 enthusiasm for amateur theatre seems to have waned a bit and the theatre too appears to have fallen into a state of disrepair. When a subscription is launched to renovate it, the names of eleven Indians figure in a list of fifty donors. The subscription drive does not yield enough money and the theatre is finally auctioned in 1835; it is bought by Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy for Rs 50,000 but the sale deed is made in the name of Bomanjee Hormusji, of the shipbuilding Wadia family.12 In the decade that follows, many appeals are made to the government to consider constructing another theatre. A petition is sent to the government and the list of signatories is headed by Jagannath Shankarsheth and Framji Cowasji. In the meanwhile, the Bombay Gazette of 8 July 1840 woos /. . . our Native Friends, our great millionaires of Bombay. . .',13 hoping to enlist their support into making another theatre. The government agrees to these petitions and in 1841, Jagannath Shankarsheth gives a free gift of land on the north side of Grant Road. A generous donation towards the fittings in the theatre is given by Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy and in February 1846, the Grant Road Theatre is opened for the public. It was in the Grant Road Theatre that Parsi companies eventually began to perform. As it was situated in what was called the Black Town, it was not quite readily approved of by the European residents.14 However, it attracted large Indian audiences from Girgaum and Kalbadevi for whom the ticket prices were placed at rates lower than they had been at the Bombay Amateur Theatre. The box and stalls was Rs 5, the upper box Rs 3, and the pit Rs 2.15 Numbers 23-24