| Burlesque | Ludicrous imitation of a dramatic form or a specific play. Closely related to satire, but usually lacking the moral or intellectual purposes of reform typical of satire.
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| Comedy of manners | Form of comic drama that became popular in the latter half of the seventeenth century in France and among English playwrights during the Restoration. It emphasizes a cultivated or sophisticated atmosphere, witty dialogue, and characters whose concern with social polish is charming, ridiculous, or both.
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| Farce | One of the major genres of drama, sometimes regarded as a subclass of comedy. It aims to entertain and to provoke laughter, and its humor is a result primarily of physical activity and visual effects.
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| Satire | In theater, drama that uses techniques of comedy—such as wit, irony, and exaggeration—to expose and attack folly and vice.
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| Slapstick | Type of comedy or comic business which relies on ridiculous—often violent—physical activity for its humor.
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| Theater of the absurd | Term first used by Martin Esslin to describe the works of certain playwrights of the 1950s and 1960s who expressed a similar point of view regarding the absurdity of the human condition. In theater of the absurd, rational language is debased and replaced by clichés and trite or irrelevant remarks. Realistic psychological motivation is replaced by automatic behavior which is often absurdly inappropriate to the situation. Although the subject matter is serious, the tone of these plays is usually comic and ironic.
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| Tragicomedy | In the Renaissance, plays that had tragic themes and noble characters yet ended happily. Modern tragicomedy combines serious and comic elements. Many plays of this type involve comic or ironic treatment of a serious theme.
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