dark comedy

1. A comedy having gloomy or disturbing elements, especially one in which a character suffers an irreparable loss.
2. A comedy characterized by morbid or grimly satiric humor.

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For more information on problem play, visit Britannica.com.

problem play, usually a play dealing with a particular social problem in a realistic manner designed to change public opinion; also called a thesis play. Significant examples are Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House (1879), on women's subordination in marriage, and George Bernard Shaw's MrsWarren's Profession (1902) on prostitution. In studies of Shakespeare, however, the term has been used to designate a group of his plays written in the first years of the 17th century: the ‘dark comedies’ Measure for Measure and All's Well That Ends Well, and the tragicomedy Troilus and Cressida. Critics have often been disturbed by the sombre and cynical mood of these plays, which seems to clash oddly with their comic conventions. See also discussion play.