Now 3

Before we begin a discussion of play genres, it might be worth our time to discuss why this even matters.  After all, genre is often derided as a series of relatively arbitrary and unimportant categories that just serve to pigeonhole some piece of art, whether that's film, writing, music, or visual art.  So why should we spend any time discussing this?  If a play is good, why does it matter whether we can put it into a category or not?

The short answer to this question is that by being able to identify the genre to which a play belongs, we will have a better idea of what to expect from that play.  By recognizing the characteristics of a play that place it in a specific genre, we will be able to have a frame of reference for it.  Of course, some plays or other works of art can be difficulty to categorize.  Not every play will fit easily into a specific genre, but that, too, will help us to discuss it and figure out what it's trying to say and how well it communicates that message.  This week, we will be looking specifically at serious genres.   

Serious theatrical genres can be divided into several different categories. The ones we will look at in the subsequent chapters include the following:

· Traditional Tragedy

· Modern Tragedy

· Heroic Drama

· Domestic Drama

· Melodrama

Although each of these genres are serious, they are all somewhat different. Let's take a look at some of those differences in more detail.

Tragedy asks some timeless and basic questions about the nature of human existence. Why are people cruel to one another? Why do terrible things happen to innocent people? What amount of difficulty and suffering can people endure? How can the human spirit rise above seemingly insurmountable obstacles?

While tragedy seems like it focuses on the negative and all the terrible things in human existence, it actually serves as a conduit to show the positive qualities of humanity. The main characters of tragedy, even when the worst is heaped upon them, meet the disaster with dignity and strength. The tragic world view often shows life that is dysfunctional, lost, or chaotic, but in the midst of this world of cruelty, madness and horror, the human beings manage to overcome and comport themselves with dignity, even in the face of death.

Tragedy as a genre can cover a lot of territory. We can make distinctions within this genre, and we will take a look at those next.

When we talk about traditional tragedy, we're talking about some very old forms of tragic plays. Traditional tragedy can be identified by some specific characteristics:

Tragic Hero: The protagonist in a traditional tragedy is almost always a person of stature--kings, queens, demigods, heroes. Traditional tragedies are usually NOT about the regular guy on the street.

Tragic Circumstances: The main character in these traditional tragedies is usually caught in a web of tragic circumstances. Even if he doesn't realize how he got into the mess, he's there, and all the events of the play seem to sink him deeper into the circumstances.

Tragic Irretrievability: The tragic situation for the hero becomes not only inescapable, but there is no turning back from the path he is on. All he can do is continue going forward to meet his fate. For example, at the end of Macbeth, when Macbeth realizes that his doom is coming, he fights on, even though he knows his fate is sealed.

Acceptance of Responsibility: One of the ways that traditional tragedy shows us the positive qualities of humanity is through the tragic hero's acceptance of responsibility for what happens to him. Even though some events may have been beyond his control, even though he may have done horrible things in the pursuit of his goal, at the conclusion of the play, he bears the burden of his actions. Tragic heroes punish themselves for their transgressions rather than forcing someone else to do it. The go to their ends with dignity, no matter what might have gone before.

Tragic Verse: One of the easiest ways for us to recognize traditional tragedies is through their use of language. Often these plays are written in verse (Shakespeare used iambic pentameter) or some heightened, poetic language. Because the characters and events of traditional tragedy are larger than life, it seems only appropriate that their language should also be lofty.

Two cultures renowned for their production of traditional tragedy were Ancient Greece and Elizabethan England. We'll take a look at these specific forms of traditional tragedy next.

Greek tragedy has all of the characteristics of traditional tragedy discussed in the previous chapter. Along with those characteristics, Greek tragedy has some other attributes that can help us to identify a play as Greek.

The Use of a Chorus--This trait is uniquely Greek. A chorus in a Greek tragedy is NOT the same as a chorus in a musical. In a Greek tragedy, the chorus consists of a group of performers who speak and act as a unit. Usually this unit represents the citizens of the city where the play is taking place.

Invocation of the Greek Gods--Another thing you will notice about Greek tragedy is the frequent mention or invocation of the Greek gods (like Zeus, Hera, Athena, Dionysus, Artemis, or Hermes.) Greek tragedy was closely associated with Greek religious practices, so this reference to the gods was a natural extension of that tradition.

Use of Heightened Language--Greek tragedy uses heightened language, as discussed in the previous chapter. Originally, Greek tragedies were written in poetic form, but with translations from ancient Greek into English (or other languages) we sometimes lose the poetic meter of the poetry. However, you should still be able to tell that these plays are not written in everyday language.

Here are some video clips showing pieces of Oedipus Rex, one of the greatest of all Greek tragedies. This one demonstrates the use of the chorus, and this one gives you a good sense of Greek tragedy. Notice, too, the heightened language...this certainly doesn't sound like everyday speech!

Elizabethan tragedy (Shakespearean tragedy) has all of the characteristics of traditional tragedy discussed in the previous chapter. Along with those characteristics, Elizabethan tragedy has some other attributes that can help us to identify a play as Elizabethan.

The Use of Soliloquy-In Elizabethan tragedy, characters often perform soliloquies--long speeches where they speak their inner thoughts out loud. Sometimes they are on stage alone as they do this, and sometimes they are on stage with other characters. If other characters are on stage during the soliloquy, then it is handled as if the other characters cannot hear what is being said during the soliloquy. This theatrical device gives the main character (or others) the opportunity to let the audience in on what he is really thinking and feeling.

May Cover Extensive Time and Space--If you notice that a traditional tragedy seems to be moving to a lot of different locations in the course of the play, then there is a good chance that it is an Elizabethan tragedy. Elizabethan tragedies frequently use an episodic play structure, and this means that they often show many different locations in the course of the play, and they may cover a fair amount of time, as well.

Use of Iambic Pentameter--while we may not be able to identify a specific poetic form for Greek tragedy, Elizabethan tragedy often uses a VERY clear poetic form: iambic pentameter. This means that each line of the play that uses this form contains ten syllables, and has this rhythm to the line: da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM. This will NOT make the play sound like a three-hour-long Hallmark card; it's much more subtle than that (and often doesn't have a rhyme scheme, which is called blank verse). But there is no mistaking the language of Elizabethan tragedy. It is an art form in itself.

Interludes of Comic Relief-finally, while the Greeks are serious throughout, Elizabethan tragedy sometimes gives the audience a breather by throwing in short comic scenes amongst the seriousness of the tragedy. There is a great example of this in Macbeth. Right after we have seen Macbeth and Lady Macbeth kill the king, we are treated to a scene featuring a drunken gatekeeper who imagines himself as the gatekeeper to Hell, and discusses the effects of drinking on a man's ability to have sex.

Here are some video clips showing some pieces of Elizabethan tragedy.

Hamlet

Macbeth soliloquy (notice how there are other characters in the background who act as though they cannot hear this speech.)

Although traditional tragedy seems like a fairly clear cut genre, the central idea that it embodies (namely that the world does not always function well, but in spite of that, people can still choose to meet disaster with dignity) has not become less applicable to modern audiences. Modern tragedies are created and performed, but they are a little different than their traditional counterparts. We can see this through some clear differences between traditional tragedy and modern tragedy. We first began to see tragedies with these characteristics in the very late 1800s, and new modern tragedies continue to be written and performed to the current day.

Here are some characteristics of modern tragedy:

Average People as Lead Characters-instead of focusing on the kings, queens, and heroic figures of traditional tragedy, modern tragedy focuses on everyday men and women. In part, this is a function of the fact that there are very few kings and queens left in the modern world, and the ones that do exist are not necessarily powerful in ways that impact a society's daily existence. Instead, modern tragedies show us that average people also have the power to meet the injustices of the world with grace and dignity.

Everyday Language--since everyday people are the protagonists of modern tragedy, it seems only fitting that they should speak in everyday language. Rather than a heightened way of speaking, modern tragedy focuses on the real way that normal people communicate with each other.

Take a look at this clip from a great American modern tragedy, Death of a Salesman. The characters in this play are absolutely NOT powerful; they can't even control their own lives very well, and they speak in everyday language.

Heroic Drama is another type of serious play genre. In many ways, it is similar to tragedy. Just like in traditional tragedy, the characters are larger than life (great heroes, or legendary figures, although don't confuse this with superheroes--a heroic drama doesn't mean it has Batman, Superman, or Iron Man) The play is written using heightened language, and the protagonist may go through some very extreme situations.

The critical difference between a tragedy and a heroic drama is that in heroic drama, the protagonist is victorious. He achieves his goal. Even though a protagonist in heroic drama may still die at the end, he dies knowing that his death has meaning--it may save the lives of those he cares about, or he may die knowing that he has achieved his heart's desire.

A wonderful example of this genre is Cyrano de Bergerac. In this play, Cyrano has secretly been in love with Roxanne for many years. Although Cyrano is brave, witty and romantic, he believes that Roxanne could never love him because of his huge nose. Instead, Cyrano has helped another man (whom Roxanne loved) win her heart. Only as Cyrano is dying does Roxanne realize that the man who she really fell in love with was Cyrano, and before he dies, he hears her speak those words to him.

Here is a clip of this play as Cyrano is dying after reading aloud a love letter he had written to Roxanne (as if it came from her young husband). Roxanne has realized that the man she loves was really Cyrano, and he dies, knowing that she did, in fact, love him, and that he has never compromised his values. He dies, victorious.

It is VERY unusual to encounter a contemporary play or film that fits the category of Heroic Drama. Typically, older plays will fall into this category much more readily than newer ones, primarily because of the high status of the characters and the heightened language.

Domestic Drama specifically centers on difficult situations in the home sphere, rather than the larger world. However, this should not give you the idea that these dramas are trivial. If given sufficient thought, domestic drama can reach a level of profundity on par with the greatest modern tragedies. (In fact, some of the greatest modern tragedies ARE domestic dramas.)

It should be fairly easy for you to think of some domestic dramas, as this genre is used frequently. Domestic situations have their own built-in tensions ready-made for a playwright. After all, who can push our buttons as well as our family? The relationships in a family are always significant, and there is often the tension of love-hate relationships, sibling rivalries, and years of time together that can provide exceptional fodder for the stage.

Some of the greatest American plays can be classified as domestic drama.

Take a look at this clip for one of the finest: Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun.

When most of us think of melodrama, we usually think of a bad guy with a handlebar mustache threatening some innocent young girl until the hero arrives to save her, everyone over-acting, or soap operas. (How many times have you wanted to say to someone "Stop being so melodramatic" when they were treating the smallest problem like the end of the world?)

We need to expand our notion of melodrama a bit, because by the characteristics laid out here, many, MANY popular televisions shows and movies will fit into this category.

The purpose of melodrama is to create fear or tension in the audience, and to draw the audience into the action of the play (or film, etc.).

In melodrama, there is a clear distinction between good vs. evil and right vs. wrong. The characters themselves are easily identified as good or bad.

There is often a lot of exaggerated action, and characters are usually in danger.

The end of a melodrama typically resolves this sense of impending doom by rescuing or killing off the endangered characters.

There is a major emphasis on suspense in melodrama--we don't know what's going to happen next to the characters, and we are waiting to see what the next disaster is, where the next chase scene leads, or what's behind the dark and creepy door.

Hopefully, you can see that by this more encompassing definition of melodrama, most action films, horror movies, spy thrillers, police dramas, or science fiction epics would be classified as melodrama.

Did you have any idea that you're a fan of melodrama?

Check out an example clip below from The Bourne Ultimatum. This clip is a good example of the ideas of suspense, danger, and ultimately rescue or death.

Genre Part 2.1: Comedic "Rules" and Techniques

Sometimes what makes one person laugh out loud is not amusing to another person. Why is this the case? What separates the funny from the serious? After all, sometimes two plays or films may (on the surface) be about the same topic, but one is treated seriously while another is designed to make us laugh. Think of the number of serious movies that revolve around crime or daring robberies, then think of how often comedies deal with the same basic plot. Although we can't always pin down exactly what will make someone laugh, we can take a look at some of the characteristics of comedy.

Overall, comedy takes the view that the world is a fairly functional place, with fairly functional people in it. Into this fairly functional world comes a character (or group of characters) who is NOT particularly functional. Think of Michael Scott on The Office. He is clearly not particularly functional (in that he is oblivious to how socially inept he is), but most of the world and people around him are pretty functional. This comic world view is diametrically opposed to the tragic world view (where the world is a disaster and the protagonist must rise above it).

To get comedy instead of tragedy out of a set of circumstances, we need to start with a few ground rules.

One reason that comedy is funny is the suspension of natural laws. Suspension of natural laws means that there are no serious (or realistic) consequences for actions taken in a comedy. This is what enables Wile E Coyote to fall off a huge cliff and not be killed, while normally, such a fall would be fatal. Instead, he makes a Wile E shaped hole in the road, or gets accordion-ed up after the fall. This enables us to laugh at events and actions that in real life would not be funny because they would have serious consequences. Think of movies like The Hangover, or Nothing to Lose. The events of those films are funny because we know that the characters will not really have to face serious consequences for the crazy situations in which they find themselves. They will not go to jail (permanently), the characters will not lose their love interests or their jobs, and eventually everything will work itself out in the end. Suspension of natural law is why we are able to laugh at what would normally be a pretty serious set of circumstances. We know that although normally dangerous, life-changing, or horrific events may befall our protagonists, in the end, everything will turn out for the best.

A comic premise is the next ingredient that we need in our recipe for comedy. A comic premise is the "what if" as in "What if a group of guys went to Vegas for a crazy bachelor party?" or "what if an average guy inherited billions of dollars and a huge corporation?" These what-ifs on their own won't necessarily give us comedy. (After all, a group of guys going to Vegas for a wild bachelor party could easily end in tragedy!) But when we pair the comic premise with the suspension of natural laws, we now have the right mix for comedy: no serious consequences and a compelling "what if" will usually give us something to laugh about.

Once we have our ground rules in place (suspended the natural laws and have a comic premise), we usually get some kind of exaggeration and incongruity in our comedy. This means that in some way, parts of the comedy will be more extreme than normal life, and that there will be something "out of kilter" in the comedy.

This exaggeration and incongruity can show itself in three primary places. These are:

Verbal humor

Characterization

Comic situations

Let's look at each of these in a bit more detail.

Verbal humor is (of course) humor that derives from the clever use of words and language. This can range from the simplest pun up to much more sophisticated word play.

Malaprops are words that sound impressive but are misused for comic effect. An example of this would be when Mrs. Malaprop (from whose name the term malaprop comes) says that her daughter is illegible for marriage (when what she means is that her daughter is ineligible for marriage).

Epigrams are brief witty sayings that often turn common bits of wisdom on their heads. An example of this would be Dorothy Parker saying "If you don't have anything nice to say, come sit by me." (when what we expect to hear is "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.")

We usually expect to encounter verbal humor in some of the more refined and sophisticated types of comedy, but that's not a rule. Verbal humor can turn up in any kind of comedy.

Comedy of character occurs when a character perceives himself one way, but is seen by everyone else in a very different way. And this goes beyond the "body switching premise" we see in so many comedies (Freaky Friday, The Change Up, The Hot Chick, etc, etc). Comedy of character also occurs in movies in which there is no magical changing of bodies, or mistaken identity (although both of those get a lot of play in comedies).

Comedy of character can be based in something as simple as the fact that the way a character perceives himself (sophisticated, intelligent, attractive to others, etc) is NOT how he is perceived by other characters in the play. In part this is funny because the audience also sees that character in the same light as the other (more self-aware) characters in the play; we see him (or her) making sort of an ass of himself with very little awareness that he is doing so. Michael Scott in The Office is a great example of this. He thinks he's a great and likeable boss, but everyone around him watches in horror as he constantly says and does appallingly offensive things.

This technique should be VERY familiar to most of you, as it is the basis of many of the skits on Saturday Night Live or other sketch comedy shows. It is an excellent example of the INCONGRUITY present in comedy that helps to make it funny.

Plot complications are a time honored comic device. They work so well, in fact, that they have been used as far back in theatre history as the time of the Roman Empire. Shakespeare and his contemporaries used them, and this tradition continues to the present day.

Examples of plot complications are cases of mistaken identity and coincidences.

The image above is from a production of Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors, in which two sets of twins (who were separated at birth) end up in the same city at the same time. The one man's wife, mistress, and other people who know him, think that his twin brother is him, and treat him accordingly. The brother, who doesn't know any of these people, responds with confusion, creating great uproar for everyone involved. You can also see this in plays or films where one character enters a room just as another is leaving it, and so creates continuing confusion or plot complications.

When you have the wrong people in the wrong place at the wrong time, it can be a definite recipe for comedy.

Genre Part 2.2: Comedic Forms

Depending on how we combine the techniques of comedy (verbal humor, comedy of character, and plot complications), we end up with different forms of comedy. These various forms can range in purpose from just wanting to entertain, all the way up to trying to create a change in a society. Different forms will provoke different reactions from the audience. The various forms of comedy that we will take a look at in the following pages of this book are:

Farce

Burlesque

Satire

Domestic Comedy

Comedy of Manners

Comedy of Ideas

Let's take a look at some of the characteristics of each of these comic types.

Depending on how the comic techniques are put together, we may get different forms or subgenres of comedy.

The first one of these we'll look at is farce. Farce may use some verbal comedy, and it may involve some comedy of character, but it relies heavily on plot complications. Farce is all about creating laughter and entertaining the audience. It is not designed to be thought provoking. Farce is usually fast-paced and exaggerated, with lots of physically comedy (pratfalls and mock violence), stereotypical characters and lots and LOTS of plot complications. If you see a set with lots of doors or other hiding places, chances are you're going to be watching a farce.

The following clip is a trailer for the play Noises Off! Although you will only be seeing a taste of the play, note how characters run in and out, and have a variety of difficulties. Check out a farce clip here.

Farce may be exaggerated, but Burlesque is even MORE exaggerated. Although we normally associate the term "burlesque" with vaudeville shows featuring baggy-pants comic acts and stripping, that's not quite what we're talking about here. As a theatrical form, burlesque encompasses over-the-top stereotypes, physical comedy and an almost juvenile sense of humor. In short, if the humor is mostly based in jokes about various bodily functions and anatomical parts, then there's a good chance it's burlesque. Another aspect of burlesque is that it frequently makes fun of popular or easily-recognizable stories.

Here's the trailer from Meet the Spartans, a film that seems to fit the notion of burlesque to a T--it has pretty crude humor AND it makes fun of a very popular film AND many pop-culture icons from the time in which it was made.

Like the two comic forms discussed previously, satire may rely on exaggeration to help create comedy. However, while farce and burlesque are almost entirely about entertainment, satire is designed to point out flaws and foolishness, either of a person, belief system or general characteristic. Satire does this by including wit and irony with its exaggeration. Satire is often used to lampoon political figures. It demonstrates the flaws in a system or type of behavior by helping us to laugh at those flaws and see the ridiculousness of a given approach.

The play Tartuffe, one of the most famous plays created in 18th century France, examines religious hypocrisy, while contemporary examples of satire include The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. Colbert, especially, exaggerates his ultra-conservative stance to point out the foolishness of extremes in politics.

Check out a clip from Colbert here.

Domestic comedy is the comedic complement to domestic drama (which we looked at last week). Domestic comedy, as the name implies, involves family members or neighbors who live together and therefore have close relationships, which add to the strength of the comedic situations.

We are VERY familiar with this form, since almost every sitcom on television is some form of domestic comedy. Family members or neighbors find themselves in a series of complex but amusing situations, often driven by some level of stereotypical characterization (the bossy mother-in-law, the bored husband, the neurotic neighbor)

Check out a clip from Modern Family here.

Comedy of manners usually depicts the social elite of its time, focusing on the manners, behavior and world views of the wealthy and powerful. Unlike some of the other forms of comedy we have looked at so far, comedy of manners does not rely so much on over-the-top exaggeration and physical humor. Instead, where farce would get a laugh with a pratfall or a bonk on the head, comedy of manners relies on wit and word play to demonstrate the cleverness of the characters, and to point out the foolishness of upper crust behavior. To demonstrate who is the best or most powerful character in a comedy of manners, a well-turned phrase or witty put-down is used to dominate rather than a physical display of a mastery.

Comedy of manners was hugely popular in England where class distinctions are so much more clearly spelled out than those in the USA. The comedy of manners play that most of you are probably most familiar with is The Importance of Being Ernest by Oscar Wilde.

In the following clip, pay particular attention to WHAT is said, that's where the humor is here; Lady Bracknell says some very funny and ironic things, even though she doesn't (on the surface) seem particularly exaggerated or even humorous. Check out the clip here.

Related to comedy of manners, comedy of ideas is a form of comedy chiefly practiced by George Bernard Shaw. Shaw used comedy as a way to discuss or debate social issues of the day. Like comedy of manners, these plays usually rely on wit and clever wordplay to present both sides of a social debate.

Topics that Shaw dealt with included such hot button topics as social hypocrisy, the importance of charity, the position of women, social stratification by class, and how we judge others by their appearance and way of speaking.

His most well-known play is probably Pygmalion (upon which the musical My Fair Lady was based.) In this play, Eliza, a poor, uneducated girl who sells flowers on the street becomes the subject of a bet. Two wealthy, upper-class men are going to transform her into someone who can "pass" as a member of the aristocracy by changing her way of speaking, dressing, and behaving. However, they don't really think about what these changes will mean for the young lady. Here's a clip of Pygmalion. Notice how the two men talk about Eliza not only as if she wasn't in the room, but as if she wasn't quite a real person.

Genre Part 3: Not Comedy, Not Tragedy, but the Other Stuff

As you might suppose from the name, tragicomedy blends aspects of tragedy and comedy. This may sound a bit confusing, as many great tragedies have their comic moments (the drunken porter in Macbeth, for example) while many comedies have some serious moments, too. This sprinkling of comic moments in tragedy and tragic moments in comedy does NOT create tragicomedy. Instead, to create tragicomedy we must have these elements so intertwined that they cannot be easily separated from each other.

Tragicomedies usually end happily, and much of what occurs may be ridiculous (like comedies). Unlike pure comedy forms, though, in tragicomedy the suspension of natural laws is not in effect. Instead, a character's actions may have serious consequences. A fall in comedy will never really hurt a character, while in tragicomedy it will. Take a look at the textbook for some good examples of tragicomedy, including the plays The Visit and Measure for Measure. In both of these examples, the situations hold humor and irony, but there is the addition of truly serious consequences in both of these plays--in both cases, the possibility of a death sentence for a significant character.

Here's a trailer for a film version of Measure for Measure. Does this seem like a comedy to you? Yet in the end, (like in a comedy) everything will end up working out, and some of the situations are filled with irony that will be laughable.

Theatre of the Absurd is a modern form of tragicomedy. Although there may be many ridiculous moments that make us laugh in a play from this genre, the underlying idea of these plays is that the world is a place of inconsistency and malevolence that cannot be understood by logic and reason. The characters in an absurdist play are often disconnected from the world around them, and that world is illogical, unjust and ridiculous (or ABSURD!). This type of theatre originated in Europe, especially after the first and second World Wars had ravaged the continent and the population. After living through two world wars fought on their home ground, the people and artists of Europe had a difficult time seeing the logic and justice in the world. In the subsequent pages, we'll look at some of the specific characteristics of Theatre of the Absurd. These plays can be somewhat difficult to understand or follow along with because of their nature. Most of the characteristics discussed in the next few pages are designed to contribute to that sense of bewilderment.

One of the most well-known theatre of the absurd pieces is Waiting for Godot, by Samuel Beckett. Notice that the primary actors in this production are all known for their comedy (Nathan Lane, John Goodman, and Bill Irwin (a world-renowned clown)). There may be many laughs in an absurdist play, but those laughs overlay the main idea of human existence being without much of a purpose--not a particularly funny thought. Check out a clip (and some cast comments) here.

In most plays, we can follow along with the story being presented for us because the plot has a fairly logical structure--we can see the cause and effect of the events of the plot (even if they are not immediately apparent, their relationship becomes clear with time).

Absurdist plots, however, often seem to have no connection to a logical structure. The title of the play may have little or nothing to do with the events or characters of the play. The different events and happenings in the play may have very little to do with one another, or it may seem that nothing is happening at all.

Here's a clip from another production of Godot. It expresses pretty well what is going on in this play: waiting! Check it out here.

The language of theatre of the absurd is often just as disconnected and random-seeming as the plots themselves. What one character says may have absolutely nothing with what another character has just said. This adds to the confusion of the play, and underscores the absurdist notion that the world is an unfathomable and confusing place, where no one can really understand or connect with another person.

Here is another clip from Godot, this time, of the character Lucky, (who is beaten, starved, and generally treated like a slave.) Lucky is silent through almost his entire appearance on stage, with the exception of this monster of a monologue. Hopefully you will find this to be an excellent example of the use of nonsense and non sequitur language in absurdist plays.

In most plays, the playwright has given us some information about who the characters in his play are: their occupations, ages, what their relationship is to other characters in the play, etc. In other words, we normally feel that we have some kind of "handle" on the characters who inhabit the play.

But as you might expect, in theatre of the absurd, we don't get that luxury. Instead, we have almost no ideas on who these characters are, what their pasts are like, or much of anything about them. In other genres of theatre, the background information we have on characters helps us to understand WHY they take the actions they do. (For example, we know that Iago sets out to destroy Othello because he feels that Othello has cheated him out of deserved promotions). But in an absurdist play, because we don't have much (if any) background on the characters, we don't always know why characters do the things they do. This contributes to the underlying absurdist notion that the world is confusing, unknowable, and ultimately chaotic.

Musical theatre is the type of theatre that many of you have indicated is one of your favorites. Musical theatre stands apart from other types of theatre by its full integration of acting, music and dance. Music and dance have been closely related to theatre for centuries, as both of these art forms are marvelous ways to express human emotions. Musical theatre has old connections to theatre, opera, vaudeville, and old-time burlesque. (Take a look at the book for a full discussion of these connections, and a brief history of musical theatre.)

We can break musicals into four distinct categories:

Operetta

Musical comedy

Musical theatre

Revue

Let's take a look at some of these categories more closely.

Operetta features lots of singing, but with some spoken dialogue. Additionally, operetta usually features fantastical, romantic stories set in exotic locations. Operetta often features solos, duets, trios, and big choral numbers.

One famous pair of creators of great operetta are Gilbert and Sullivan. Many of their most well-known operettas were written in the late 1800s. Some of their creations that you may have heard of are The Mikado, and The Pirates of Penzance, and HMS Pinafore. Check out a clip from The Mikado here. To our modern ears, the singing style and music is fairly classical in feel, but note that it is comic, clever, and also has some significant spoken sections between songs. Classic operetta!

(It's also good to note that although The Mikado is well over one hundred years old, the people on the "list" are quite modern annoyances--it's very common with this particular song to update who's on the list.)

Musical comedy was an entertainment form popular in the 1920s. It featured a fun story interspersed with popular music of the day. The story in a musical comedy was often fairly shallow, and certainly never very serious. The focus in musical comedy was not really on the story, but on the songs themselves. The songs of many musical comedies of this era remain well-known even today, and may be referred to as standards, because they are still performed, even if the musical comedy they were composed for is not. Composers for these musical comedies include legends like Irving Berlin, Jerome Kern, George Gershwin, and Richard Rodgers.

The biggest difference between operetta and musical comedy is that musical comedy is usually a little less far-fetched. The situations, locations, and characters are usually a little more connected to everyday and contemporary people, places, and things. While operetta music sounds more like classical music, or opera, the songs from musical comedy are clearly from the modern age, with a much more jazzy or popular music "feel" to them. Here's a track from the 1930s Cole Porter musical comedy Anything Goes. Even if you've never seen this show, chances are you may recognize this tune.

Musical Theatre is a form of entertainment that was born in the American theatre (although it is now created in lots of other places around the world). Musicals not only fully integrate music, singing and dance into the theatre, but they also have unification between the story and the songs. With the development of musicals, the songs are no longer wedged in between parts of a story that are there to loosely connect the songs. Now, the story is critical, and the songs act as a window into the inner life of the characters. The songs are directly connected to the action and characterization of the story.

Some examples of how musical theatre differs from musical comedy are the importance of the story and the range of (sometimes) serious topics that musicals will now tackle. For example, many popular musicals take their stories from highly literary sources: My Fair Lady draws its story from a non-musical play Pygmalion. West Side Story is based on Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, and Les Miserables and The Phantom of the Opera are also based on serious novels. Musicals have also evolved to deal with serious topics, as well as the fun ones. The first true American musical, Showboat, looks at a marriage between a white man and an African-American woman (which was illegal both when the play was set AND when the play was written) as well as the living conditions of African Americans in the South. Rent examines the AIDS epidemic in artistic communities. Sweeney Todd is about a man cheated of his happiness who is intent on exacting bloody revenge. Even musicals that have their fun and sunny moments may show some of the darker sides of life: The Sound of Music has characters escaping from the Nazis, and South Pacific has romance set against the backdrop of World War II.

The musical has come into its own as a form that not only has the tools to explore the full spectrum of human emotion and experience, but as a form that is willing to look at the dark along with the light. There are so many musicals out there that I suggest you go to YouTube and watch a clip from your favorite!

Revues hearken back to the days of vaudeville, when a troupe of performers might do a comedy sketch, a song, a dance number, a strip tease, juggling act, or some other short entertaining bit, followed by something else from the troupe's repetoire. Revues were similar to vaudeville in that they incorporated many different kinds of entertainment. Revues often featured extensive use of spectacle--lots of glitz (which vaudeville troupes, who usually traveled from town to town were less able to do). One of the most famous revues was the Ziegfeld Follies, who featured many types of performances, but almost always had a chorus of attractive young ladies in spectacular (or tiny) costumes. In recent times, there have been some performances that are similar to revues and feature the songs of some of the greats of musical theatre history. Examples are An Evening with Rodgers and Hammerstein, or My Way: A Musical Tribute to Frank Sinatra, or Side by Side by Sondheim.

To see the Ziegfeld girls in all their spectacular spectacle, check out this clip. Imagine number after number of this! What a revue! Watch the Follies here!