Modern and Modernist Theatre and Drama in East and Southeast Asia

Modernism in East and Southeast Asian drama is inevitably linked with colonialism and the imposition of Western culture upon indigenous culture, either from within or from without. For that matter, as Fredric Jameson and many others have argued, ‘Western modernity is inextricably tied to Western colonialism in Asia, Latin America and Africa’ (Friedman 2006: 426). So in one sense, all modernism stems from the interaction of cultures, East and West, rooted in observation of the Other – even in nations like China or Thailand, which were never fully colonized. Japan was never colonized, and was, in fact, an imperial power itself, but still responded to pressures both internal and external in the face of Western imperialism within Asia.