| Zakaria Ariffin | |
| Native Name: | Malay: {{Script|Arab|زکريا عارفين |
| Native Name Lang: | Zakaria Ariffin |
| Birth Name: | Zakaria bin Ariffin |
| Birth Date: | 22 July 1952 |
| Birth Place: | Kuantan, Malaysia |
| Occupation: | playwright, director, theatre critic |
| Language: | Malay |
| Nationality: | Malaysian |
| Citizenship: | Malaysia |
| Alma Mater: | University of Science, Malaysia |
| Period: | 1975-1978 |
| Genre: | plays |
| Awards: | Esso-Gapen II Prize (1988/89); Literary Prize of Malaysia (1988/89); Award "Seri Angkasa" of Radio and Television of Malaysia (1988/89); S.E.A. Write Award (2001); Literary Prize of Johor (2007); State prize in the field of art (in the nomination for individual achievements, 2009) |
| Years Active: | since the 1970s |
Zakaria Ariffin (born 22 July 1952) is a Malaysian playwright, theater director and educator.
Ariffin was born at Kuantan, where he graduated from high school. In 1974, he entered the Pedagogical College of Sultan Idris in Tanjung Malim, but only studied there for five months. During that time, however, he was acquainted with the playwright Noordin Hassan, who liked how he staged his play The Door. In 1975, on the advice of the master, he entered the Faculty of Performing Arts at the University of Science in Penang. His teachers were well-known theater-makers and directors, Kala Devata (Mustafa Kamil Yasin), Ghulam Sarwar, Gus Nasaruddin, Krishen Jeet, and Zainal Latif. At the same time, he took an active part in Penang's theatrical group, Angkatan Sasaran, both as an actor and as a stage director. He began writing and staging his plays, starting with Penunggu Warisan, in 1977.[1]
After graduating from the university in 1978, he started work in the department of literature of The Institute of Language and Literature of Malaysia (DBP), where he had the opportunity to communicate with well-known writers, such as Usman Awang, Osman Zainuddin, Johan bin Jaafar, Atondra, and Malina Manjoy. Here he joined the theatrical company of the DBP "Anak Alam" and played in such productions as Hunchback from Tanjung Putri by Shahrom Hussein, Visitors at Kenny Hill by Usman Awang, Hatta Azad Khan's Seven corpses and statues, and Where the Moon Always Cracks from A. Samad Said.[2] Along with this, he continued to write plays himself: The Opera House (1978), The King of the Fools (1993), Do Not Kill Sam (1994), The Woman of the English Lieutenant (1995). These were mostly of protest and satirical character with elements of Malay opera (bangsawan).[3] Some of his plays attracted the attention of Central Television (for example, If you are not lucky, you will not get lucky). The cooperation with Noordin Hassan continued; in particular, in 1994 he took part in staging his play, This night the tortoise cried.
In 1996, he moved to the National Academy of Arts as a lecturer, where he soon headed the theater department. There he staged his new plays This is not the end (1996), Teja (1997), Imam (1998), and also, with the support of the Ministry of Culture, large-scale productions of the old ones—The Opera House (1988), King of the fools (1997), Siti Zubaidah (2000)—on the stage of the prestigious Palace of Culture in Kuala Lumpur.[4] In 2001, he initiated the wayang (traditional puppet theater) Nusantara Festival, held in Kuala Lumpur. In 2007, he published the play Kesuma, which resonated widely in theater circles.[5] In 1997, he participated in the international writing program at Iowa University (USA).[6]
As a theater critic, he published the books, Modern Malay Drama in Essays (1981) and The Drama of Three Epochs (1984).[7] [8]