Theatrical Genres
Theatrical Genres
Comedy - In comedy the audience expects laughter and a happy ending, but one should be able to differentiate among at least three kinds of laughter. It is possible to laugh with a character that we like or admire; if this character triumphs at the end. For example, we might laugh in celebration. When we laugh at characters, it is because of some incongruity in behavior: because they are not as good or clever as they think they should be. This kind of comedy which shows us the characters' vice or foolishness and our own as well, is satire. Characters are held up to some standard of social or moral behavior and found wanting. Satire and political satire use ironic comedy used to portray persons or social institutions as ridiculous or corrupt, thus alienating their audience from the object of humor. The third kind of laughter comes out of the sheer need to express ourselves through laughter. What happens onstage seems so crazy, so incongruous to our normal view of reality that the world seems turned upside down. It seems so exaggerated that its resemblance to our normal world is almost lost. A play that provokes this kind of laughter is called a farce. The laughter signals recognition of a whole world out of kilter, not just a character. Comedy, therefore, can be philosophical or escapist. It can express a wide range of emotions. It can present a world of horrors, make us laugh in joy or in ironic despair. In modern theatre playwrights may portray the horrors of life which is traditionally the subject of tragedy while at the same time provoking the laughter we associate with comedy. This results in a disillusioned view of a world without clear meaning; whatever happens seems to do so at random by chance as much as by intention and therefore without pattern or goal. Whatever happens often seems absurd thus the term "theatre of the absurd" has been used to collectively describe these plays by some of the most influential playwrights of the
Comedy - In comedy the audience expects laughter and a happy ending, but one should be able to differentiate among at least three kinds of laughter. It is possible to laugh with a character that we like or admire; if this character triumphs at the end. For example, we might laugh in celebration. When we laugh at characters, it is because of some incongruity in behavior: because they are not as good or clever as they think they should be. This kind of comedy which shows us the characters' vice or foolishness and our own as well, is satire. Characters are held up to some standard of social or moral behavior and found wanting. Satire and political satire use ironic comedy used to portray persons or social institutions as ridiculous or corrupt, thus alienating their audience from the object of humor. The third kind of laughter comes out of the sheer need to express ourselves through laughter. What happens onstage seems so crazy, so incongruous to our normal view of reality that the world seems turned upside down. It seems so exaggerated that its resemblance to our normal world is almost lost. A play that provokes this kind of laughter is called a farce. The laughter signals recognition of a whole world out of kilter, not just a character. Comedy, therefore, can be philosophical or escapist. It can express a wide range of emotions. It can present a world of horrors, make us laugh in joy or in ironic despair. In modern theatre playwrights may portray the horrors of life which is traditionally the subject of tragedy while at the same time provoking the laughter we associate with comedy. This results in a disillusioned view of a world without clear meaning; whatever happens seems to do so at random by chance as much as by intention and therefore without pattern or goal. Whatever happens often seems absurd thus the term "theatre of the absurd" has been used to collectively describe these plays by some of the most influential playwrights of the