Genres

Genre is one of the main ways that we can categorize plays. Each larger genre can then sometimes be broken down into more specific subgenres. This guide will explain some of the different genres you may want to explore as you write plays.

Terminology

Genre: the category that a play falls under, based on the type of characters, story, and writing style. Comedy and drama are the two major categories of genre.

Subgenre: a smaller, more specific category for a play.

Farce: a comic dramatic work using buffoonery and horseplay and typically including crude characterization and ludicrously improbable situations.

Realism: a theatre genre with characters that behave and speak realistically.

Non-realism: a theatre genre in which the story is told in an unusual way, with characters who behave or speak outside the norm, unusual story structure, and/or exaggerated or strange lighting, sound, costume, and set design.

Satire: a subgenre of comedy, satire pokes fun at a specific issue or person.

Epic Theatre: epic theatre is a form of theatre that aims not to give the audience an emotional experience, but to make them think about certain issues.

Absurdism: absurdist theatre is built on the philosophy that life is basically meaningless.