The main theatrical genres are tragedy, comedy and drama.
Tragedy in translation from Greek literally means “song of goats”, because in the ancient Greek rituals-feasts dedicated to the god Dionysus, where tragedy originated, the participants were dressed in goat skins and masks.
Tragedy usually depicts the deepest contradictions between man and society. The hero’s struggle often leads to his death. In modern theater, tragedy in its pure form is almost never found.
Comedy also originated in ancient Greece. Comedy depicts the funny side of life, ridicules the shortcomings and mistakes of people. There are comedies of characters and comedies of situations.
Drama occupies an intermediate place between comedy and tragedy. It arose much later. The drama depicts the world of a real person with his problems. Subsequently, the drama became the leading theatrical genre.
Later, new varieties of the three main genres emerged. Melodrama is a play with an acute plot, exaggerated emotionality, sharp contrast of good and evil, with a moral and instructive orientation. Vaudeville is a type of situation comedy with songs and dances. This genre was one of the predecessors of operetta. Farce is a comedy of light content with purely external comic effects. In the XX century there is a genre of tragicomedy, which intertwines the tragic and comic.
Nowadays, such main types of theatrical art as drama theater, comedy theater, opera and ballet theater, musical comedy theater, puppet theater have been defined.
In ancient theater, masks were widely used – tragic and comic. Masks were also used in medieval theater. Gradually in the European theater masks were replaced by a system of roles – specialization of the actor in a certain range of roles. The oldest roles are tragedian and comedian, there were also many others. In modern theater there is no division into roles.
Puppet theater has existed for a very long time. The earliest puppets depicted gods, around which spectacles unfolded, which later turned into theatrical performances. Puppets help to convey the thoughts and feelings of people in a metaphorical, allegorical form. In modern theaters, puppets are different. Some of the simplest puppets are finger puppets, as well as parsley or glove puppets. There are also puppets called cane puppets. Cane and parsley dolls are controlled from below. Puppets on threads are controlled from above. Such dolls are called marionettes. In some countries, huge dolls were made for street performances.
In Asian countries there are peculiar shadow puppets used in national religious and mythological performances.
Recently, there are such types of theater as dance theater, fashion theater, song theater, which combine different types of art. There are children’s theaters and theaters for young viewers, whose repertoire is designed for children and young people. In some countries, such as Japan, there is a traditional national theater, where the repertoire has not changed for centuries.