GENRES STYLES FORMS

*overall content *how it is expressed *mechanisms built into the

● Realism play
● Comedy
● Magical Realism ● Mask
● Tragedy
● Theatricalism ● Mime
● Drama ● Audience Participation
● Expressionism
● Melodrama ● Puppetry
● Naturalism
● Farce ● Surrealism TYPES
● Theatre of the ● Classicism *how it is presented
Absurd ● Romanticism ● Musical Theatre
● Tragicomedy ● Epic Theatre ● Theatre for Young
Audiences
● Theatre for Social
Change
Genres in Theatre
 What is a Genre?
A genre is a class or category of artistic endeavor having a
particular form, contents, and technique.
 Tragedy
● Tragedy is a serious play or drama typically dealing with
the problems of a central character, leading to an unhappy
or disastrous ending brought on, as in ancient drama, by
fate and a tragic flaw in this character, or, in modern
drama, usually by moral weakness, psychological
maladjustment, or social pressures.
● Evokes pity and fear in audience
● Tragedy plays traditionally end in death. Lots of death.
Example of Tragedy
● Hamlet
● Romeo & Juliet
● Oedipus the King
 Comedy
A comedy is intended to amuse, usually with a happy ending.
The central character of a comedy is usually an ordinary
character who faces conflicts that arise from
misunderstandings or mistaken identities but overcomes
them, and the play ends with a happy resolution.
Example of Comedy
● Twelfth Night
● Tartuffe
● The Odd Couple
● The Importance of Being Ernest
Melodrama
● A sensational dramatic piece with exaggerated characters
and exciting events intended to appeal to the emotions.
● Popular in 19th and 20th century
● Good vs. Evil
● Often uses music to make you feel things!
 Example of Melodrama
● Hollywood
● Days of Our Lives
● Sweeney Todd
● Titanic
● Up

Basically, we are obsessed with

melodramas
Drama
The main character is an average person, just like you and me who
tries to do the right thing and fails.

Hope is maintained without

Character can overcome trial...mostly doesn’t

Evokes sadness in audience

Examples of Drama
● Death of a Salesman
● Getting Near to Baby
● Children’s Hour
Farce
Farce is a type of comedy where highly exaggerated, ridiculous situations
happen that are often outside the confines of reality. Farce includes
physical humor, stock characters and big, over the top actions.

Commedia dell’arte (the lovers, the rich old man, the servants)
Examples of Farce
● The Matchmaker
● Arsenic and Old Lace
● Home Alone
● The Hangover
Theatre of the Absurd
● A world where there is no right or wrong
● Jumps all over
● No point...absurd
● Example: If you were to flip a coin 50 times, it would land on heads every time.
Examples of Theatre of the Absurd
● Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead
● Waiting for Godot
● The Dumb Waiter