Types of Drama

How well life and its intricacies are portrayed on a stage through actions and performances of theater actors! This creative art form is renowned throughout the world as drama. It's a means of self expression, where actors showcase their inherent talents on the stage, which is interwoven with other elements like, music, dance, instruments, mikes and lights, to make it more appealing to the audience. Theater and drama are collective terms, and the basic component of the play is a story based on fictional events and characters.

Evolution of drama bears a rich history and it had influences mainly from the Western countries. The theatrical culture emerged from Greece and Athens, thereby creating an impact throughout the world. Classical Athenian drama was succeeded by Roman drama, Medieval, Elizabethan and Jacobean (English renaissance theater), modern and postmodern drama. Different genres of dramas were produced, which gained immense popularity amongst all sections of the society. Worth to note, Asian countries like India, China and Japan also composed dramas that explicitly symbolized their tradition, culture and ethnicity.

Drama was broadly categorized into three different forms, viz. opera, pantomime and creative drama. We explain them in the following points.

• Opera was accepted warmly during the Renaissance period due to its versatility. Theater and music were in perfect harmony and actors displayed exceptional acting and singing skills.
• Pantomimes were composed keeping the theme of folk tales as the primary element and symbolism occupied a prominent position. It was organized in the form of masques, where characters wore elaborate costumes and makeup.
• Creative drama is the modern version of drama, which was popularized mostly by youngsters, possessing innate acting skills. Stage shows and theaters were organized in schools and colleges, which gave a platform to students for exhibiting their talents.

No matter what the form was, every drama contained some basic elements. The components of drama are; theme, plot, audio-visual effects and music. All these elements must be synchronized perfectly for creating a masterpiece. We have explained you the major types of drama in the following table.

Different Types of Drama Based on the elements of drama and common perception of people.
COMEDY	A comedy makes us laugh when the play is well composed with the humorous elements. The story is usually based on real life characters, funny experiences in life or any type of fun provoking situation. A comical drama can also be sarcastic and raunchy. Composing a comical drama requires high level of intellect and perceptive faculties because provoking laughter is not something easy.
FARCE	According to the definition given by Britannica, it is a comic dramatic piece, that uses highly improbable situations, stereotyped characters, extravagant exaggeration, and violent horseplay. Farce, although a sub category of comedy, is intellectually inferior to comedy because the plots and the characters are substantially crude, ambiguous and unimaginative.
TRAGEDY	The drama exposes the plight and suffering of humans to its audience. The perfect example of a tragic drama is Shakespeare's Hamlet. The theme of a tragedy usually rotates around ruination of dynasty, downfall of man, emotional betrayals, moral setback, personal loss, death and denials. A tragedy when composed and enacted well can touch your sentiments deeply.
MELODRAMA	Melodrama is exaggeration of emotions. It's marked by surge of emotions, which is a technique to make the character and the plot more appealing to the audience. A melodrama often fails to derive applause because excessive display of emotions becomes sheer monotonous. On the contrary a superbly executed melodramatic plot can absorb you completely within it.
FANTASY	It's a complete fictional work where characters virtually display supernatural skills. It's more appealing to children as fairies, angels, superheroes, etc are embedded in the plot. Use of magic, pseudo science, horror and spooky themes through various kinds of technical devices create a perfect world of fantasy. The modern version of drama incorporates a great deal of special effects.
MUSICAL	Music, melody and dance play a significant role in a musical drama. The music should be in sync with the actions and the performer often uses dance as a means of self expression. The stage is equipped with a band of orchestra, well rehearsed with the plot and use of music. Musical drama became popular as opera, which is still considered to be intensely sensuous.

Although drama has been divided into the aforementioned types, yet people love to experiment their skills to produce many new genres. You can also sustain a single plot combined with all these major forms. The drama gets etched in the mind of audience when execution of the script, the stage performance and the coordination between group members are absolutely perfect.