Outline of Theatre - Genres of Theatre

Genres of Theatre

There are a variety of genres that writers, producers and directors can employ in theatre to suit a variety of tastes:

• Domestic drama – focuses on the realistic everyday lives of middle or lower classes in a certain society, generally referring to the post-Renaissance eras.
• Comedy – any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter.
  • Black comedy – a comic work that employs "black humor" or gallows humor.
  • Commedia dell'arte – a form of theatre characterized by masked "types" which began in Italy in the 16th century, and was responsible for the advent of the actress and improvised performances based on sketches or scenarios.
  • Comedy of errors – a work that is light and often humorous or satirical in tone, in which the action usually features a series of comic instances of mistaken identity, and which typically culminates in a happy resolution of the thematic conflict.
  • Comedy of manners – satirizes the manners and affectations of a social class, often represented by stock characters.
  • Comedy of situation – features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue.
  • Farce – aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases, culminating in an ending which often involves an elaborate chase scene.
  • Romantic comedy – light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true love is able to surmount most obstacles.
• Drama –
• Epic theatre –
• Experimental theatre –
• Fantasy –
• Grand Guignol –
• Historical theatre –
• Improvisational theatre – often comedic, and sometimes poignant or dramatic productions where actors/improvisers use improvisational acting techniques to perform spontaneously.
• In-yer-face theatre – a term for drama that emerged in Great Britain in the 1990s to describe work by young playwrights who present vulgar, shocking, and confrontational material on stage as a means of involving and affecting their audiences.
• Mainstream theatre –
• Meta-theatre –
• Morality play –
• Musical theatre –
• Natya –
• Pantomime –
• Physical theatre – any mode of performance that pursues storytelling or drama through primarily and secondarily physical and mental means.
• Political theatre –
• Popular theatre –
• Puppetry –
• Radio drama –
• Reader's Theatre – a style of theatre in which the actors do not memorize their lines. Rather, they either go through their blocking holding scripts and reading off their lines, or else sit/stand together on a stage and read through the script together.
• Rock opera –
• Theatre for social change –
• Theatre of the Absurd –
• Tragedy –
• Tragicomedy –
• Vanguard-style theater –