Kinds of Theater

There are four kinds of theater.

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The first kind is the drama. Drama is a specific mode of fiction represented in performance. Examples of it are Long Day's Journey into Night by Eugene O'Neill and the classic Hamlet by William Shakespeare.

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 Tragedy is form of drama based on human suffering that invokes catharsis, and deals with unhappy or tragic endings. Examples of it are Oresteia by Aeschylus and Oedipus Rex by Sophocles.

Comedy is another form of drama with happy endings, though comedies now are humorous in nature. A play in which the themes are taboo or issues presented in a humorous manner is called a black comedy. Examples of comedies are the classic La Divina Commedia by Dante and Boeing Boeing by Marc Camoletti, a French playwright.

Lastly, a musical combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. As opposed to the opera, a musical gives equal importance to music and dialogue. This is the most common type of theater we see nowadays. Examples of it are Wicked and The Phantom of the Opera from Broadway.

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Though it is not always considered as a type of theater, opera is an art where singers and musicians perform dramatic work combining text and musical setting. It is now mostly considered as under music, but since there is acting we can say that it is still under theater. An example is The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart.