Alcestis is a play that defies traditional Greek categorization. Despite its happy ending, the play is not a comedy. However, it does not really follow the rules of tragedy, either. Generally, scholars and historians label Alcestis as a tragicomedy or a problem play, perhaps one of the first extant examples of the genre in Western theatre.
Euripides presented Alcestis at the City Dionysia in 438 BCE. Playwrights would enter a trilogy of plays, with an attached satyr play at the end. While the trilogy has been lost, Alcestis was in the place of the satyr play (again, defying the typical genre
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Alcestis guide sections
