페레스트로이카와 포스트소비에트 희곡의 뉴웨이브 - 전환기 러시아희곡의 새로운 패러다임을 중심으로

Abstract

Following the Russian Revolution in the early 20th century, another reformist movement that shed light on the issue of ‘a new beginning’ in modern Russian history was perestroika. Described as a “revolution without shots,” it was hardly a conventional sense of reform, but nonetheless fueled a widespread popular desire for a new start. If history was any guide, perestroika was about to bring a renaissance to Russian theater. After all, the first century of the history of modern theater had come to an end, and the expectation of a turning point was well founded. It has been well over a quarter century since perestroika. In retrospect of developments in post-Soviet theater, playwrights who, based on their self-reflection on Russian plays of the time, wished to reform theater by reforming plays took the lead in spreading the desire for a new beginning. The advent of new playwrights triggered new phenomena that could neither be defined by traditional standards nor explained with a director-driven approach, which had dominated Russian theater for the past 100 years. This paper examines a new paradigm in the first generation of post-Soviet Russian plays which was hoped to be a watershed in Russian theater before and after the restructuring of the Soviet system. The first generation of post-Soviet playwrights created new repertoire for Russian theater, emerging as the key driver of the development of post-Soviet plays. They not only honored the traditions of their predecessors, but also explored a new world of playwriting to differentiate their works from those from Soviet period. The sanctified authority of playwrights in the Soviet-era was enough to encourage introspection of the theater community, with a goal of charting a path through the uncertainties of post-Soviet society and building a new discourse in post-Soviet theater. The idea of reforming theater by reforming plays stemmed from the experience of older generations of theater professionals, and playwrights did not hesitate to take the lead in the development of post-Soviet theater. These are the foremost facts one should be aware of about the history of post-Soviet theater.