Types of Drama

I. Allegory - is a piece of art or literature, like a poem or story, in which people, things
and/or happenings have a hidden or symbolic meaning. The symbolic meaning of an
allegory can be political or religious, historical or philosophical. The word “allegory”
comes from the ancient Greek for “to speak so as to imply something other.”

Example:

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis is a famous religious allegory. The
lion Aslan is a stand-in for Christ, and the character of Edmund, who betrays Aslan, is a
Judas figure.

The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allan Poe shows no one escapes death.

Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne is showing the Devil's staff being used
to defy God and eat the forbidden fruit.

The Wizard of Oz (movie) - The lion represents cowardice. The scarecrow stands for the
agrarian past and the tin man the technological future.

II. Burlesque - is a style in literature and drama that mocks or imitates a subject by
representing it in an ironic or ludicrous way; resulting in comedy. It is a form of the
literary genre, satire. The term “burlesque” originates from the Italian burla and later
burlesco, meaning ridicule, mockery, or joke. Correspondingly, burlesque creates humor
by ridiculing or mimicking serious works, genres, subjects, and/or authors in one of
two ways: either by presenting significant subjects in an absurd or crude way, or by
presenting insignificant subjects in a sophisticated way. As a literary and dramatic
device, the term is often used interchangeably with parody, though a parody is actually
type of burlesque.

As mentioned above, burlesque works mimic the styles and subjects of other works in a
humorous way. Take the classic cute love poem:

Roses are red,

Violets are blue,
Sugar is sweet,
And so are you!

A burlesque version of the poem, specifically a parody (a mocking or satirical imitation

of a literary or dramatic work), would be:
Roses prick your fingers,
Violets make you sneeze,
Sugar fills your veins with fat,
It’s best you stick to peas!
III. Comedy - is a type of dramatic work that is amusing and satirical in its tone, mostly
having cheerful ending. The motif of this dramatic work is triumph over unpleasant
circumstance by which to create comic effects, resulting in happy or successful
conclusion.
Thus, the purpose of comedy is to amuse the audience. Comedy has multiple sub-
genres depending upon source of humour, context in which an author delivers
dialogues, and delivery method, which include farce, satire and burlesque. Tragedy, in
contrast, is opposite to comedy, as tragedy deals with sorrowful and tragic events in a
story.

Low comedy is physical rather than intellectual comedy and it requires little skill in the
scripting (if there is a script at all). Often a visual or highly physical work; high comedy
is more sophisticated, emphasizing verbal wit more than physical action.

Example: The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare’s comedy plays)

IV. Fantasy - is a form of literary genre in which a plot cannot occur in the real world.
Its plot usually involves witchcraft or magic taking place on an undiscovered planet of
an unknown world. Its overall theme and setting is a combination of technology,
architecture, and language resembling European medieval ages. The most interesting
thing about fantasies is that their plot involves witches, sorcerers, mythical and animal
creatures talking like humans, which never happens in the real life.

V. Farce - is a comedy that aims at entertaining the audience through situations that are
highly exaggerated, extravagant, and thus improbable. Farces are often highly
incomprehensible plot-wise (due to the many plot twists and random events that
occur), but viewers are encouraged not to try to follow the plot in order to avoid
becoming confused and overwhelmed. Farce is also characterized by physical humor,
the use of deliberate absurdity or nonsense, and broadly stylized performances. Farces
have been written for the stage and film. Furthermore, a farce is also often set in one
particular location, where all events occur.

Example:

Oscar Wilde’s novel, The Importance of Being Earnest

Shakespeare’s play, The Taming of the Shrew

VI. Melodrama - a style of play, which originated in the 19th century, relying heavily
on sensationalism and sentimentality. Melodramas tend to feature action more than
motivation, stock characters, and a strict view of morality in which good triumphs over
evil.

Example: Noel Coward’s heartbreaking drama, Still Life, Brief Encounter

VII. Mime - acting without words. Mime is a form of silent art that involves acting or
communicating using only movements, gestures, and facial expressions. A person
performing mime is also called a mime.

VIII. Naturalistic play or Naturalism - is a movement in European drama and theatre

that developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It refers to theatre that attempts
to create a perfect illusion of reality through a range of dramatic and theatrical
strategies: detailed, three-dimensional settings ; everyday speech forms (prose over
poetry); a secular world-view (no ghosts, spirits or gods intervening in the human
action); an exclusive focus on subjects that are contemporary and indigenous (no exotic,
otherworldly or fantastic locales, nor historical or mythic time-periods); an extension of
the social range of characters portrayed (away from the aristocrats of classical drama,
towards bourgeois and eventually working-class protagonists); and a style of acting
that attempts to recreate the impression of reality (often by seeking complete
identification with the role, understood in terms of its ‘given circumstances’), this
movement suggested the role of family background, social conditions and environment
in shaping human character. Naturalistic role play is used within theatrical
performances to demonstrate to the audience or show the audience how this would
appear in real life. No still images are used as this does not show the full quality of the
piece of drama.

Example: Stephen Crane in his short story, The Open Boat

IX. Problem play - is a form of drama that emerged during the 19th century as part of
the wider movement of realism in the arts. It deals with contentious social issues
through debates between the characters on stage, who typically represent conflicting
points of view within a realistic social context. Problem play generally refers to a play
of ideas that explores contemporary social problems.

Example: Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Miller’s Death of a Salesman