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Tragicomedy

Tragicomedy (or dark comedy or black comedy) refers to fictional works that blend aspects of the genres of tragedy and comedy.

Polonius:
The best actors in the world, either for tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical- comical-historical-pastoral, scene individable, or poem unlimited: Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor Plautus too light. For the law of writ and the liberty, these are the only men.

William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act II, Scene 2

Table of contents
1 Tragicomedy in theatre
2 Tragicomedy in film
3 See also
4 External links

     Tragicomedy in theatre  

Many of Shakespeare's later plays such as Cymbeline, The Tempest, and The Winter's Tale were tragicomedies. Tragicomedy is a common genre in post-World War II British theatre, with authors as varied as Samuel Beckett, Tom Stoppard, John Arden[?], Alan Ayckbourn and Harold Pinter writing in this genre.

     Tragicomedy in film  

Dark comedy was a popular genre in British films of the early 1990s. An example of a dark comedy is Life is Sweet, by British director Mike Leigh[?].

     See also  

     External links