CATA 171

Intro to Theatre and Cinema

Chapter 3

Dramatic Genres

 

I.                    Six Common Dramatic Genres

a.       Comedy

                                                               i.      Laughs

1.      Mostly from Dialogue

a.       High Comedy (comedy of manners)

                                                                                                                                       i.      Moliere

                                                                                                                                     ii.      Wilde

                                                                                                                                    iii.      Shaw

b.      Domestic comedy (everyday life)

                                                                                                                                       i.      Neil Simon

                                                                                                                                     ii.      Thornton Wilder

                                                                                                                                    iii.      Sam Shepherd

                                                                                                                                   iv.      Most sitcoms

c.       Low Comedy (physical rather than verbal)

                                                                                                                                       i.      Commedia dell’ arte

                                                                                                                                     ii.      Dumb and Dumber

                                                                                                                                    iii.      40 Year Old Virgin

                                                             ii.      Alls well that ends well

                                                            iii.      Right people paired up

                                                           iv.      Reaffirms audience’s values

b.      Farce

                                                               i.      Laughs

                                                             ii.      Wildly anarchic and improbable

                                                            iii.      Eccentric and stereotypical characters

                                                           iv.      Fast tempo

                                                             v.      Safe violence

                                                           vi.      Similar to Low Comedy but more improbable and liberating

                                                          vii.      Examples

1.      Michael Frayn’s Noises Off!

2.      Georges Feydeau’s A Flea in Her Ear

3.      Commedia dell’ arte

a.       Slapstick

4.      Aristophanes’ The Birds, The Frogs, The Clouds, Lysistrata

5.    Roadrunner cartoons

c.       Drama

                                                               i.      A serious play

                                                             ii.      Causes Sadness

1.      Characters defeated

2.      Central character struggles for something audience values

3.      Reminds audience the world is not always fair

                                                            iii.      Audiences enjoy Drama

                                                           iv.      Examples

1.      Tennessee Williams

2.      August Wilson

3.      Arthur Miller

d.      Tragedy

                                                               i.      Ancient Greek for “goat song”

1.      Honored Dionysus (god of wine, fertility, theatre)

2.      Associated with goat—source of milk and food

3.      Oedipus, Antigone, Electra  some of greatest tragedies of all time

                                                             ii.      Touches audience more directly than Drama

1.      Feel awe for central character

2.      Feel admiration for honorable actions

3.      Gives audience something to strive for

e.       Melodrama

                                                               i.      Comes from “Melody” and “Drama”

1.      Music was meant to heighten drama

2.      But encouraged excessive sentimentality

3.      Why we use the word “melodramatic”

                                                             ii.      Appears serious but ends with protagonist as victor

                                                            iii.      Focus more on complicated plots than their 2 dimensional characters

                                                           iv.      Exciting twists and thrilling music

                                                             v.      Reflect the way we wish life were

                                                           vi.      Examples

1.      Dudley Do-Right

2.      Star Wars

3.      Indiana Jones

f.        Tragicomedy

                                                               i.      Combines elements of tragedy and comedy

                                                             ii.      Causes audience to leave theatre agitated, frustrated or anxious

                                                            iii.      Often gives audience a sense of danger to themselves

                                                           iv.      Audience might laugh to relieve tension

                                                             v.      Developed early in the 20^th Centery “the age of anxiety”

1.      Continues today with terrorism theme

                                                           vi.      Examples

1.      Works by Sam Shepherd

2.      Works by David Mamet

3.      Absurdist plays such as

a.       The Bald Soprano

b.      Waiting for Godot