List the rungs on the Ladder of Comedy.

1. Comedy of ideas (satire).

2. Comedy of character,

3. Comedy of wit (the humor is in the lines),

4. Comedy of situation (SitCom),

5. Comedy of pain (slapstick),

6. The "dirty" joke -- bathroom humor.

The bottom four rungs -- the comedy of pain, situation, wit and the "dirty joke" -- are generally considered low comedy. The top two rungs, the comedy of character and idea, are high comedy.

Monty Python explains the "History of the Joke"
An excellent example of the "Comedy of Pain"

What is a farce?

I Love Lucy

A wildly humorous play which emphasizes situation (or plot) over character or idea. A farce is low comedy. TV's I Love Lucy(1951-1957) is a perfect example. What are they doing with those fish?

A melodrama?

Under the Gaslight

A serious play with a trivial theme. The conflict is usually between the forces of good and evil. The excitement comes through physical action: chases, fist fights, shoot outs.... Many of the melodramas of the nineteenth century included a musical (hencemelodrama) score. Augustin Daly's Under the Gaslight (1867) was a "sensation play." Audiences hoped to be transfixed by a single moment on stage: a fire, a shipwreck, a volcano erupting, a heroic rescue. Will the heroine stop the train and save the hero?

A bourgeois drama?

Death of a Salesman (1949)

A serious play, such as Death of a Salesman, which deals with the domestic problems of the middle and lower class. It is today, the most popular form of serious drama.

A docu-drama?

Inherit the Wind (1955)

A docu-drama dramatizes an actual event often using real names, dates, and places and generally drawing its text from court room transcripts or committee hearing reports. The 1925 John Scopes "Monkey Trial" in Dayton, Tenessee, inspired Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee's Inherit the Wind (1955). Do you recognize the actor playing the judge?

Musical theatre?

Legally Blonde (2007)

Opera: A dramatic work which is entirely sung. Musical: A dramatic work which includes both dialogue and song. Dance: A dramatic work which tells a story (or creates a mood) through music and movement.

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 1716