Understanding Dramatic Genres: Elements of Theatre and Subgenres

Genre Characteristics of Theatre: Drama and Comedy

The term Drama refers to literary works designed to represent an action to an audience through dialogue involving several characters. It derives from the Greek word drao, meaning "to make" or "to enforce."

Essential Elements of Drama

• Action: A series of scenic events produced based on the characters' behavior and the resulting psychological or moral modifications.
• Characters: The individuals who carry out the dramatic action through dialogue.
• Dramatic Tension (or Situation): The viewer's reaction to an imminent event within the work. Playwrights often accumulate elements of dramatic action, culminating in the final scenes of each act.
• Atmosphere: The particular mood or environment involving the characters and the dramatic action. This can be created not only through material resources but also through mime and the characters' manner of speaking.
• Representation: Theatre is not solely a literary text; it is, above all, a show or entertainment.

Functional Elements of Dramatic Action

• Dialogue: Conversation or verbal exchange between two or more characters.
• Monologue: A character's speech not directed to a specific party seeking a response. A particular case of the monologue is the Aside, which are words spoken in a low voice by the character, intended for the audience only.
• Mimicry: A set of physiognomic expressions and gestures that complement the actor's speech.
• Stage Directions: Text intended to clarify the understanding or mode of presentation of the work, which should not be pronounced by the actors. These annotations are typically placed in brackets and use a different typeface than the main text.

The costumes, scenery, lighting, and music are also important elements of dramatic performance as a total spectacle.

Major Dramatic Subgenres

The Tragedy

This dramatic subgenre represents a fatal action, often culminating in the protagonist's death. Key elements include:

• Catharsis: The purging of the spectators' passions through the production of fear and pity.
• Tragic Hero's Action: The hero initiates the process leading to their own destruction.
• Hubris and Perseverance: The hero's pride and stubbornness lead them to persevere despite adversity, refusing to surrender.
• Pathos: The suffering of the tragic hero communicated effectively to the audience.
• Character Hierarchy: Characters typically possess social superiority (e.g., gods, kings, mythological heroes).

Tragedy reached its peak in Ancient Greece with playwrights like Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides.

Comedy

Comedy is a dramatic subgenre characterized by characters of lower social status, a happy outcome, and the primary purpose of provoking laughter from the audience.

It seeks to imitate the mundane, everyday reality of ordinary people, which explains its adaptability across different societies and the diversity of existing plays.

Its outcome always leads to an optimistic conclusion. While comedy originated in Greece, its glory was cemented by the Romans Plautus and Terence. Spanish drama of the Golden Age also produced countless comedies, often revolving around themes of honor and fidelity.

The Drama (Tragicomedy)

Drama is a dramatic subgenre intermediate between tragedy and comedy. The passions depicted in drama do not reach the intense level found in tragedy, and comedic elements are sometimes interspersed.

The ending is usually unhappy, potentially involving the death of one of the characters.

The origins of modern drama can be traced to Spanish and English theatre of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, notably in the works of Lope de Vega and Shakespeare. Currently, the term 'drama' is often used broadly to refer to any play that does not strictly correspond to the defined subgenres of tragedy or comedy.