From ‘new realism’ towards an avant-garde search. A few remarks on the contemporary Russian dramaturgy

Abstract

The article gives us some insight into the subsequent phases of development of contemporary Russian dramaturgy, which is illustrated by works of selected authors. For over two decades a new generation of playwrights has entered literature and it is this generation that is setting the trend in this sphere. The changes began with the journalistic drama by Mikhail Shatrov, whose debut was still in the Soviet times, and his follower was Aleksandr Buravskiy. The works of Vladimir Voinovich and close to it Joseph Brodsky’s dramaturgy stay on the border of journalist drama and psychological drama of manners. However, the forerunner of new drama was created by Lyudmila Petrushevskaya who preceded the dramaturgy of Alexei Schipenko, Nikolai Kolada, Maria Arbuzova. Further changes of dramatic form could be observed in plays by Yevgeni Grishkovets, Ivan Vyrypajev, the Presnyakov brothers who already belong to a new generation of playwrights.