Comedy
Comedy comes from the geek word 'komos' which means a revel (fun). Comedy amuses or induces laughter. Comedy aims at representing 'men at worse', the major characters are always average people and show a transition from bad to good. By the end of the play problems are resolved and everyone is happy.
Types of comedy:
7 key elements of dramatic comedy
Development through the years:
Shakespearean comedy
Dark elements in comedies
Types of comedy:
- Slapstick-requires perfect timing
- Satire-ridicules human folly
- High comedy-involves wit and word play
- Comedy of manners- set in an elite, fashionable society and deals with social situations
- Farce- fast moving and improbable
- Low comedy- physical action and visual gags
- Romantic comedy- comedy of love affairs
7 key elements of dramatic comedy
- Inequality
- Social constraints
- Hyperbole
- Word play
- Disguise
- Conflict
- Eves dropping (pillars on Globe stage are huge for characters to hide and perform this kind of comedy)
Development through the years:
- Satyr plays- sexually voracious and drunken characters
- Roman comedy- plautus and terrence influenced Shakespeare
- Shakespearean comedy- romantic comedy
- Jonsomian comedy- humours and citizen comedy
- Restoration comedy- first time had women on stage and acting more sexually explicit and bawdy
- 18th century comedy- comedy of manners and a lot more moral
- Victorian and Edwardian- word play
- 20th century- comedy of manners
Shakespearean comedy
Dark elements in comedies
- Strong heroines
- Disguise/Cross dressing
- Music songs
- Romantic settings
- Happy endings
- Trampest
- The fool
- Patriarchal society
- Movement from disorder of court
- Related to pre-modern community rituals
- Subversive play space