Theatre in the Nepali language exists outside Nepal, in Nepali-speaking areas of India, mainly northern West Bengal and Sikkim in India. The Kirata period of pre-recorded Nepali history produced the Mundhttm, the Veda of the Tibeto-Burman Kiratas. This contains dramatic elements but makes no reference to plays or an actual stage. Some scholars, however, believe that the Harisiddhi play, still traditionally performed, had its inception during this time. The Lichchhavi period during third-ninth centuries was notable for Sanskrit theatre produced in the mandapikas or pavilions adjacent to temples. Record has it that a Ramayana play of those days was immensely popular for years.

The Malla period during thirteenth to eighteenth centuries witnessed significant development in Nepali stagecraft. Performances came out of temple precincts into open public places on dabalis, or raised stone platforms. Invariably they were in the form of musical and dance dramas. Malla plays were mostly written in the Newari and Maithili languages. Kati Pyakham or `Kartik ritual drama` ran for the whole month of Kartik i.e. October-November month. This came into vogue. The modern proscenium stage made its appearance in the Shah period in 1767 onwards followed by the Rana period in 1846 onwards, which abounded in entertaining Urdu and Hindi theatre.

However, dabali performances continued to be popular and creative. The Jyapu Natak of peasant Jyapus, in the Tibeto-Burman language of Newari, evolved as a widely acclaimed genre. Dhintamai was yet another celebrated variant of Jyapu popular theatre. Attempts have been made to present modern Nepali plays in the traditional folk Jyapu styles. Sanskrit plays were translated into Nepali ever since Shaktivallabh Aryal`s version of Hasyakadamba or `Comic kadamba Tree` in 1798. But a play written wholly in Nepali was first staged in Darjeeling, north Bengal, in 1909 by Dhanbir Mukhia and his Gorkha National Theatrical Party. This was Pahalman Singh Swar`s Atalbahadur which was published from Varanasi in 1906. Worthy followers were the Himalayan and Children`s Amusement Association. This was a club known for Bhaiya Singh Gazmer`s talent and the Gorkha Dukha Niwarak Sammelan, a social organization. Balkrishna Sama wrote the first modern Nepali play. This was the social tragedy Mutuko byatha or `Heart`s Pangs` in 1926. Balkrishna Sama was a consistently successful dramatist, he penned as many as eighteen full-length and fourteen one-act plays. Prahlad in 1929 is regarded as his masterpiece. A verse allegory, it reflects Gandhian principles and predicts Hitlerian methods. Gopalprasad Rimal and the Malla brothers, Govind and Vijay, ushered in realism, both social and psychological.

They were contemporary Nepali dramatists, specially the front ranking, who transcended matter-of-fact realism. Their plays concretize thoughts and awareness in suitably new forms to embody die contents. Mohanraj Sharma`s Baikuntha Express or `Paradise Express` in 1985 presents the perilous journey. The world has to undertake driven by the compulsive desire to reach a land of affluence and pleasure. Sharad Chetri in Kfmb nachyo kathaputali or `Merrily Danced the Puppet` in 1993 diagnoses the nodiingness of all existence, which lies at the heart of all reality.

Avinash Shrestha`s Ashvatthama hatshatah or `Ashvatthama Is Dead` in 1994 asserts that Yudhisthira`s damnable half-truth uttered in the battle of Kurukshetra has proliferated and half-truths have come to rule the earth, mankind living an accursed life. Saroo Bhakta`s Malamiharu or `Funereal Procession` in 1995 vividly depicts all people as attendants at the funeral of our humanism. Nanda Hangkhim in his Abhishek or `Consecration` in 1995 picks up the thread of Oedipus`s tragedy to ask "could not the child born of incestuous and sinful wedlock be consecrated and crowned?" Therein lies the existential test of the modern world to accept hard reality. Existence is surely more stubborn and greater too than moralistic considerations. These five writers represent the phase of high modernism in Nepali drama.