DOI: 10.25136/2409-8698.2022.9.38753

Abstract: The article focuses on the well-known Malaysian dramatic texts, created in the last third of the twentieth century, the generic features of monodrama in these plays being the main research subject. The purpose of the analysis is to demonstrate monodramatic nature of the works and to establish the time of the birth of Malay monodrama, as well as the reasons why the genre for a long time was not denominated as such. The analysis involves historical-cultural, analytical and comparative methods. Historical and cultural method allows to scrutinize the genre under study in the context of the post-realistic theater of Malaysia, which was born as a reaction to the tragic events of the second half of the twentieth century in the country. Analytical method is used to identify the essential generic features of the studied texts, whereas with the help of comparative method, the artistic features of these texts are matched with the genre characteristics of monodrama. Today, the Malay monodrama is undeservedly deprived of the attention of specialists, although its role on the stage of the country is quite noticeable. This determines the novelty and relevance of the work. The performed research shows that Malay monodrama is much older than is commonly believed, and has existed for almost half a century. The study of the plays "Lazri Meon" by Abdul Samad Said and "Not Suicide" by Dinsman made it possible to identify the most important monodramatic features in them (the subject of representation, the dramatic plot and the conflict), thereby pushing the lower timeframe of existence of this genre in Malay playwriting first until the 1990s, and then - the 1970s. The appearance of a non-classical genre less than a quarter of a century after the birth of Malay drama also allows us to acknowledge the accelerated development of this type of literature in Malaysia.

DOI: 10.25136/2409-8698.2022.7.38366

Abstract: The subject of the research in the article is the process of the origin of the national drama of Malaysia. The object of the research is information on the history of the Malay and Indonesian city theater and works of Malay literature of the first half of the twentieth century. The author examines in detail the long-term changes that took place in the Malay theatrical tradition and the factors that contributed to the emergence of written dramatic texts.The purpose of the study is to determine the mechanism of transition from the unscripted theatrical tradition to dramaturgy. Particular attention is paid to the changes in the repertoire of the Malay city theater associated with the emergence of a new type of plots. The ways of their penetration into the representations of the city theater are analyzed, their influence on the nature of performances is considered. The emergence of a dramatic text in the theatrical tradition of British Malaya has not yet been studied either in domestic Malaistics or abroad, which determines the novelty of the work. The study uses an integrated approach combining the consideration of data on theater and literature. The cultural-historical method fits the available data into the context of the epoch. The comparative method allows us to determine the results of contacts between related theatrical phenomena of the Malay world (Bangsawan theater and the Istanbul Comedy Theater). The birth of drama is seen as a transition from the existence of unscripted spectacles to the creation of plays. As a theoretical basis for the analysis, the concepts of transitivity are used, which make it possible to present this phenomenon taking into account national specifics. This is the definition of a transitional aesthetic phenomenon as an artistic presystem, introduced by A.V. Lukov, as well as the structural gradation of the literary transition, presented in the work of A. A. Stepanova on the basis of generalization of a number of previously proposed approaches. As a result of the research, the main factor that contributed to the birth of Malay drama is revealed – the appearance of realistic plots in the repertoire of the previously unscripted theater of the transitional type. According to the findings of the study, there were two sources of these plots: external borrowings and the interaction of theater with literature.