This article summarizes the techniques of the theatre of the absurd in the plays by Velimir Khlebnikov and Dmitri Prigov. Both playwrights tend to reflect the «word as it is». Collages, eccentric theatricality and voice perception emerge in Khlebnikov's and Prigov's dramas. The voice becomes an actor and is related to the idea of control. The author's verbal playing with the voice and the word manifests itself through the importance of proper names in the analysed texts. © 2019 Rossiiskaya Akademiya Nauk Institut Russkoi Literatury (Pushkinskii Dom). All rights reserved.