Modern Drama: the Search for Ontological Issues

Abstract

Modern Russian drama explores the relationship between man and the universal, raising eternal ontological questions. The article considers the possibilities of studying ontological issues on the example of festival plays of the early 21st century. The analysis of existing research has been carried out, and important aspects describing ontological problems in modern drama have been identified. The corpus of plays by modern playwrights is analyzed, the main directions of research on ontological issues in their work are described. Among them are the ideological content of the play, its chronotope, as well as the question of the dialectic of tradition and novelty in artistic creativity. The ideological content is considered in the following aspect: modern plays demonstrate a variety of ideas about the universal. The mysteries of the universe, the other person, the past and the future – these issues traditionally concern playwrights. The variety of spiritual principles that structure people's lives allows the viewer to make sense of what he saw. Chronotope of the play: the characteristic of the new drama is the fragmentation of artistic space and time, the play is built from a variety of scenes, the action of which takes place at different times in different places, their unification is carried out according to the principle of editing episodes. There is a unification of conditional reality and the space of imagination, as well as virtual space. There is a tendency to avoid events, the "combination of facts", the "composition of incidents" focuses the meaning of the drama as a whole. The flow of life as the organization of the space-time of a modern play is an attempt to create an imitation of the reality of events. A conversation with the audience, a sudden distraction from what is happening on stage, collage and montage mobilize the artistic image, mix the grassroots and the sublime. The problem of the author's relationship with the future and the past is considered through the dialectic of tradition and novelty. Dramaturgy using a document reflects a certain reality in history. The past is Different, its identity needs to be respected, modern drama protests against narrative and advocates documenting reality instead of turning history into a myth. The conclusion is made about the importance of studying drama at each new stage of its development.