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: 10.25136/2409-8698.2019.6.31074

Abstract: This article examines the dramaturgy segment of Malaysia, usually referred by literature scholars and critics to the theatre of the absurd. This circle of dramatic texts was created in the 1970’s – early 1980’s. The subject of this research is the worldview foundation of this layer of dramaturgy and the fundamental principle of creation of the scripts. The goal of this work consists in determination of specificity of the Malaysian absurdism, generated by a distinct perception of its Western prototype by the Malaysian dramaturgists. The key objective of this analysis is to identify the methods of realization of the author’s ideological message in the plays. The orientation of the Malaysian theatre towards the Western source suggest the use of the comparative-typological approaches. This aspect of the Malaysian theatre of the absurd has not been previously examines in the works dedicated to modern literature. The research results demonstrate that the key approach towards structuring the script is the approach of literary paradox, as well as recommend the term “neo-absurdism” as a more precise designation for the phenomenon in question.