theater in malaysia

Theater in Malaysia is fast progressing; it is being noticed in the West and also gaining popularity in the country. The popularity of Malaysian theater can be seen from the fact that Sunday newspapers feature one or two pages on Malaysian Theater. However, Malaysian theater lacks proper infrastructure, the plays are performed by numerous amateur groups in Kuala Lumpur and generally the plays are performed three times in the city. But then, the scenario was different in the era prior to Second World War. During that time there were many professional theater groups and the entire theater set up use to buzz with activity, in both city and countryside.

The traditional theatrical forms of Malaysia are Ma'yong and Manora. Ma'yong is traditional court theater that developed into a folk form, it comprises of magical stories that has a lot of music and stylized movement. Manora is a kind of folk dance drama originating from Buddhist source, and familiar to every culture of Southeast Asia. It is generally deals with the love story between a prince and a princess of Kinnara origin.

Bangsawan is another form of theater in Malaysia. It is one kind of spoken drama, however, music is significant in such a play and there are songs in between scenes. Bangsawan is basically melodramatic in nature and depends a lot on stage improvisation as such a play does not have any script, only the basic plot is available to the actors. Before the performance of such a play, the director explains the dialogues and actions of the play and the actors later improvises these actions and dialogues on the stage. Even the lyrics and melodies are memorized by the writers.

These traditional theatrical forms have become almost dead and rarely performed, except for occasions like the King's or Sultan's birthday. But the latest developments in the theater scenario of Malaysia are encouraging and there is no doubt that theater in the country will flourish very soon.