The Politics of Difference in Krishen Jit's Theatre in the 1970s: "A Time of Intense Questioning" in Malaysian Culture

Contemporary Malaysian theatre has often negotiated the tensions and conflicts of cultural difference, attempting to reflect on and redefine the constructs of identity. Malaysian theatre director Krishen Jit explored alternative performance strategies for looking at depictions of modern society, such as interracial casting and physically stylized enactments of scripts, to expand how constructs of culture could be reshaped. This article focuses on his work in the 1970s, when he began to stage modern Malaysian identities as discursive formations that allowed for permeable boundaries.