Serious drama written in verse featuring noble characters in an irretrievable situation that elicits their immense capacity for suffering and promise of a better tomorrow, the vision of the play is dark. Ex. Romeo and Juliette
Modern Tragedy
Modern ordinary characters rise to the status of exceptional characters facing a tragic web of circumstances and personal weaknesses that spell their doom in an unsympathetic world.
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Serious drama written in elevated prose or poetry which features noble characters caught in extreme situations or undertaking unusual adventures. Death is not regarded tragically.
Optimistic world view. Ex. Three Musketeers
Melodrama
Emphasizes action and spectacular effects.
Historically employed stock characters engaged in an unambiguous struggle between good and evil with music under the action scenes. Happy endings signal the triumph of good. Subcategories include Detective, Gothic, Adventure, Fantasy, and Western. Ex. High School Musical
Domestic Drama
Deals with problems of middle and lower classes in serious vein, particularly problems of family and home. Ex. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf
Farce
Aims to entertain and provoke laughter.
No intellectual pretensions. Violence, rapid movement, and an accelerating pace color a ridiculous situation involving two-dimmensional characters. Ex. Three Stooges
Satire
Uses the techniques of comedy, such as wit, irony, and humor and exaggeration to attack and expose folly and vide. It can also attack specific public figures or more general traits in each of us.
Ex. Saturday Night Live
Comedy of Manners
A form of satire that favors a cultured or sophisticated milieu, witty dialogue and characters whose concern with polish is charming, ludicrous, or both. Attacks the excesses of upper class society.
Ex. The Importance of Being Ernest
Burlesque
In it’s earliest form, a ludicrous imitation of dramatic form or specific play. CLosely related to satire, it usually lacks the moral or intellectual proposes or reform typical of satire, being content to mock the excesses of other works. Ex. Bugs Bunny
Comedy of Idea
Pgymalian by George Bernard Shaw typifies this type of comedy that subordinates comedy to a social message
Tragic Comedy
A play that combines elements of tragedy and comedy, either by providing a happy ending to a potentially tragic story or by some more complex blending of serious and light moods. Ex. Merchant of Venice
Musical Drama
Representational with presentational moments. Serious overall but with some funny moments.
The characters are psychologically real, reserved happy ending. Dance and chorus resembles significance. Ex.
Oklahoma
Musical Comedy
A type of musical characterized by a lighthearted, fast-moving comic story, whose dialogue is interspersed with popular music. Ex. Little Shop of Horrors
Musical Revue
A production consisting of a series of independent song and dance scenes tied loosely together; often satirical.
