OF PROJECT
STYLES THEATRE
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CLIENT
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Genres
Genre - A French word meaning category or type Tragedy Comedy
Farce Burlesque Satire Domestic Comedy Comedy of Manners
Comedy of Ideas
Genres Continued
Heroic Drama Melodrama Domestic or Bourgeois Drama Tragicomedy A. Shakespearean Tragicomedy B. Modern Tragicomedy
Tragedy
A serious drama involving important personages caught in calamitous circumstances Evokes in the audience fear and apprehension for the characters who are suffering, and admiration for the courage they display Considered by many to be the loftiest and most profound form of theatre It probes very basic questions about human existence It assumes that the universe is indifferent to human concerns, and often cruel or malevolent
Tragedy
tragedy "song for the goat" - any event with a sad and unfortunate outcome, involving a great person who experiences a reversal of fortune. This reversal of fortune must be caused by the tragic hero's hamartia, which traces back to hamartanein, a sporting term that refers to an archer or spear-thrower missing his target. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy
Six Takes on ToBeorNottoBe
Lawrence Olivier Kenneth Branaugh Kevin Kline Mel Gibson Ethan Hawke Patrick Stuart
Burlesque
Minimal costuming, often focusing on the female form. Sexually suggestive dialogue, dance, plotlines and staging. Quick-witted humor laced with puns, but lacking complexity. Short routines or sketches with minimal plot cohesion across a show
A humorous drama intended to provoke amusement or laughter Characteristics: Suspension of natural laws
Actions in a comic play do not have the same consequences as actions in real life
Comedy
Contrast between individuals and the social order
The defiance of social order by individuals
The comic premise
An idea or concept that turns the accepted notion of things
Comedy
contains variations on the elements surprise, of incongruity, conflict, repetitiveness, and the effect of opposite expectations, but there are many recognized genres of comedy. Rodney Dangerfield The Hangover
Satire
In satire, vices, follies, abuses and shortcomings are held up to ridicule. Goal is to shame the recipient into improvement. Societal in nature. Comedy as a weapon.
Farce
Farce
Thrives on exaggeration Has no intellectual pretensions Aims are entertainment and laughter Has excessive plot complications Humor results from ridiculous situations as well as pratfalls and horseplay
Farce
aims to entertain unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity
Verbal humor which may include sexual innuendo word play, fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases culminating in an ending which often involves an
elaborate chase scene. characterized by physical humor, the use of deliberate absurdity or nonsense, and broadly stylized performances.
Heroic Drama
Serious drama that has heroic or noble characters and certain other traits of classic tragedy Has a happy ending Assumes a basically optimistic worldview
Melodrama
Means song drama or music drama Originally comes from the Greeks Made popular by the French Music refers to the background music that accompanied these plays Relies on surface effects that create suspense, fear, nostalgia, etc. Heroes and heroines are clearly delineated from villains Has easily recognizable stock characters Virtue is always victorious Has a suspenseful plot
Domestic Drama
Deals with people from everyday life instead of kings, queens, and nobility Common themes are: Problems of society Struggles within a family Dashed hopes Renewed determination
Other Terms
The Basic genres of plays (styles of plays) - Tragedy (films like Mystic River) - Comedy - Tragicomedy (films Life is Beautiful & Fargo) - Melodrama - Farce (films any Monte Python)