1. GENRES OF THEATRE

2. Essential questions
What are some things that makes one theatre genre different from another?
How can you learn about a society or culture through theatre?

3. Genres
GENRE: ways of categorizing or classifying different conventions of theatre
Comedy
Farce
Melodrama
Tragedy

4. COMEDY
DEFINITION: any work generally intended to be humorous or to amuse by inducing laughter
Variations: satire, political satire, parody, screwball comedy, black comedy, toilet humor, romantic comedy, comedy of manners, situation comedy (sitcom).. And there’s more!
Examples:
Friends
Seinfeld
The Odd Couple
Brighten Beach Memoirs

5. COMEDY PLOTS CHARACTERS Familiar situations Everyday, familiar people
serious subject, taken lightheartedly
lighthearted subject, taken seriously
Typically has a happy ending.
Includes puns, irony
CHARACTERS
Everyday, familiar people
We laugh with them, no at them
Humor comes from their “take” or reaction to a given situation

6. FARCE DEFINITION: A low style of comedy
that aims at entertaining the audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, and thus improbable
 deliberate use of absurdity or nonsense
Examples:
Mr. Bean
Three Stooges
Noises Off
Comedy of Errors

7. FARCE CHARACTERS PLOTS
Each are over exaggerated in terms of the character’s action and Reaction to a situation.
Large facial expressions and gestures help emphasize character’s reaction to situation
PLOTS
Familiar Situations that are exaggerated out of proportion
Lots of physical action, including chases, fights, trips, falls, accidents
Over exaggerated action and characters
Lots of puns, irony and repetition
Plot twits and turns!

8. Why do people laugh? FAMILIARITY!!!
Common life experiences that we all encounter but we don’t often deal with in an open, honest way. Involves pointing up some observation or activity most of us have commonly experienced
Ex: awkwardness of a first date, or the pressures of dealing with our family, steering a grocery cart with a broken wheel

9. THOUGHTS ON humor
should come out of the situation and characters, not in spite of them
a joke or some piece of schtick that interrupts the flow of a scene can be ultimately damaging to the piece as a whole, no matter how big a laugh it gets
if a joke is used... make sure it is organic to the situation, rather than something that you say to get a laugh
a line or an action that may be funny at one moment, can completely lose its punch a moment later

10. MELODRAMA
DEFINITION: putting characters in dangerous situations in order to appeal to their emotions
Examples:
Any soap opera
Some cartoons
Rocky and Bullwinkle
Muppet Melodrama

11. MELODRAMA PLOTS “taking control of…” scenario Cliffhangers
heart-tugging emotional appeals
strongly moralistic tone
Lots of puns
CHARACTERS
Stereotyped characters
Hero, Villain, Sidekick/s and a Person in distress (male or female)
Characters are larger than life!
Stylized characters and acting
NO emotional intensity

12. TRAGEDY DEFINITION: Examples:
A character of high esteem “falls” to death or despair because of some fatal flaw within him.
It is because of this fatal flaw or weakness, that brings about his tragic end.
Catharsis: feeling empathy for the tragic hero
Examples:
Oedipus Rex
Othello
Death of a Salesman
Romeo and Juliet

13. TRAGEDY CHARACTERS well rounded characters PLOT
protagonist - 1 dominate trait
antagonist = provides conflict, & helps to bring about the “fall” of the tragic hero
Controlled emotional intensity!
Show honesty, conviction and sincerity in actions, decisions and motivations
PLOT
Universal Elements
Focus on immediate problems but aware of surroundings