include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling and ventriloquism. Vaudeville – a theatrical genre of variety entertainment that was popular in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill. Types of acts included popular and classical musicians, dancers, comedians, trained animals, magicians, female and male impersonators, acrobats, illustrated songs, jugglers, one-act plays or scenes from plays, athletes, lecturing celebrities, minstrels, and movies. West End theatre – professional theatre staged in the large theatres of "Theatreland" in and near the West End of London. Workshop production – a form of theatrical performance, in which a play or musical is staged in a modest form which does not include some aspects of a full production. Genres of theatre There are a variety of genres that writers, producers and directors can employ in theatre to suit a variety of tastes: Closet drama – Comedy – any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter. Black comedy – a comic work that employs "black humor" or gallows humor. Commedia dell'arte – a form of theatre characterized by masked "types" which began in Italy in the 16th century, and was responsible for the advent of the actress and improvised performances based on sketches or scenarios. Comedy of errors – a work that is light and often humorous or satirical in tone, in which the action usually features a series of comic instances of mistaken identity, and which typically culminates in a happy resolution of the thematic conflict. Comedy of manners – satirizes the manners and affectations of a social class, often represented by stock characters. Comedy of situation – features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue. Farce – aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases, culminating in an ending which often involves an elaborate chase scene. Romantic comedy – light-hearted, humorous plotlines, centered on romantic ideals such as that true love is able to surmount most obstacles. Documentary theatre – Domestic drama – focuses on the realistic everyday lives of middle or lower classes