Though India declared itself a sovereign nation only in 1947, after two hundred years of British rule, its people had unleashed the processes of ‘Indianization’ well before independence. While addressing the transition from colonial subjecthood to independent citizenship is intricately linked to efforts of decolonization, the role of English-medium education in the creation of a new emergent class of independent Indian citizens often gets overlooked. This essay analyses the immediate impact of independence (1947–50), and locates the educational spaces where Indians (predominantly elite Bengalis) were struggling to unlink citizenship from nationalism and exploring inter-community relationships such as those between the Bengali elite and the micro-minority Jews, Parsis, Armenians and Anglo-Indians. I show how theatre activities by the students of St Xavier's Collegiate School and College, their new roles as potential public intellectuals and citizens of post-independent India and their theatre constituted an important intervention in the new democratic processes. I examine the duality of a Bengali elite who acquired an English-medium education and performed English-style Shakespeare while trying to construct a political dramaturgy as an ensemble or collective.

中文翻译：

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从教室到公共空间：在早期独立的印度创造一个新的戏剧公共领域

尽管印度直到 1947 年才宣布自己为主权国家，但在英国统治 200 年后，印度人民早在独立之前就已经启动了“印度化”进程。虽然解决从殖民主体到独立公民身份的转变与非殖民化的努力有着错综复杂的联系，但英语教育在创造一个新兴的独立印度公民阶层中的作用往往被忽视。本文分析了独立（1947-50 年）的直接影响，并定位了印度人（主要是精英孟加拉人）努力将公民身份与民族主义联系起来并探索社区间关系的教育空间，例如孟加拉精英和微观群体之间的关系。少数民族犹太人、帕西人、亚美尼亚人和盎格鲁印第安人。我展示了圣泽维尔学院和学院学生的戏剧活动，他们作为潜在公共知识分子和独立后印度公民的新角色，以及他们的戏剧如何构成对新民主进程的重要干预。我研究了孟加拉精英的二元性，他们接受了英语中等教育并表演了英式莎士比亚，同时试图将政治戏剧构建为一个整体或集体。