History WrongGenreSavvy / Theater

* In ''Cromwell'' by Victor Hugo, Rochester, one of the men who conspires against Cromwell, thinks he's in a romance, and that his forbidden love with Cromwell's daughter will prevail. Unfortunately for him, he's in a political drama and she never noticed that he existed.
* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in Music/StephenSondheim's ''Theatre/IntoTheWoods'' -- when the Baker's Wife is being seduced by Cinderella's Prince, she sings, "This is ridiculous, what am I doing here, I'm in the wrong story..."
** The Narrator suffers from this worse. He thought he was in a classic fairy tale and his job was to tell the story from the safe side of a thick fourth wall.
* A large fraction of the characters in ''Theatre/LittleShopOfHorrors'' are Wrong Genre Savvy. The main character, Seymour, and his employer Mr. Mushnik, think they're in a rags-to-riches story. Seymour's love interest, Audrey, thinks she's in a romance. Orin seems to think that he's a BastardBoyfriend, or perhaps [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential the player character of a videogame]].
* In the 18th century play ''Nathan the Wise'', Nathan's servant Daya is reasonably savvy of the "Columbine" role in CommediaDellArte and thus sees it as her duty to find a mate for Nathan's daughter. However, the young crusader that Daya tries to fix up with the daughter [[IncestIsRelative turns out to be the daughter's long-lost brother]]. In commedia del'arte, this kind of ContrivedCoincidence is fairly common, so you could say that the guy would either be the love interest or the long-lost brother, and Daya made the wrong conclusion. There's also an aspect that although Daya knows that Nathan is a nice guy, she has antisemitic prejudices, and thus tends to act like the play she is in is ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice''.
* Creator/WilliamShakespeare:
** Rodrigo of ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'' thinks that he's the Captain character in a CommediaDellArte play, who seduces the [[MayDecemberRomance pretty young wife of an old man]]. But he's actually more like a CasanovaWannabe-type, who is conned by the conniving servant. Making things worse is that he's in a tragedy, not a comedy, and the conniving servant is [[TheChessmaster Iago]].
** Polonius in ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' thinks that he's the Dottore or the Pantalone in a Commedia dell'Arte play, where every problem is caused by unrequited love and can be solved with eavesdropping. Unfortunately for him, he's in a revenge tragedy.
** Deconstructed with Tybalt in ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'', who doesn't realise he's in a romantic comedy, and winds up [[HalfwayPlotSwitch derailing the plot]] into a tragedy with his killing of Mercutio.
%%* In ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'', Anthony thinks that he's the hero, who rescues the beautiful maiden who's been locked in a tower by an evil old man. Unfortunately, he's in a Music/StephenSondheim musical ...
* In ''Theatre/DonGiovanni'' by Mozart, Donna Elvira makes two wrong conclusions. When she's in her {{Love Martyr}} mode, she thinks she's the heroine of a romance story, destined to [[ICanChangeMyBeloved redeem]] [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys the roguish]] [[DracoInLeatherPants anti-hero]] with her love. When she's in her {{Woman Scorned}} mode, she correctly realizes that she's in a story of an irredeemable rake's divinely-ordaned punishment, but wrongly assumes that ''she'' will be the one to punish him. Actually, she's just a tragicomic supporting character, and the real agent of the Don's punishment is [[LivingStatue a much]] [[OurGhostsAreDifferent more imposing]] [[NightmareFuel figure]].

* [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] in Creator/StephenSondheim's ''Theatre/IntoTheWoods'' -- when the Baker's Wife is being seduced by Cinderella's Prince, she sings, "This is ridiculous, what am I doing here, I'm in the wrong story..."

%%* In ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'', Anthony thinks that he's the hero, who rescues the beautiful maiden who's been locked in a tower by an evil old man. Unfortunately, he's in a StephenSondheim musical ...

* WilliamShakespeare:

* In ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'', Anthony thinks that he's the hero, who rescues the beautiful maiden who's been locked in a tower by an evil old man. Unfortunately, he's in a StephenSondheim musical ...
** Actually, a very strong argument could be made that he's simply a HeroOfAnotherStory.

* In ''{{Don Giovanni}}'' by Mozart, Donna Elvira makes two wrong conclusions. When she's in her {{Love Martyr}} mode, she thinks she's the heroine of a romance story, destined to [[ICanChangeMyBeloved redeem]] [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys the roguish]] [[DracoInLeatherPants anti-hero]] with her love. When she's in her {{Woman Scorned}} mode, she correctly realizes that she's in a story of an irredeemable rake's divinely-ordaned punishment, but wrongly assumes that ''she'' will be the one to punish him. Actually, she's just a tragicomic supporting character, and the real agent of the Don's punishment is [[LivingStatue a much]] [[OurGhostsAreDifferent more imposing]] [[NightmareFuel figure]].

** Actually, a very strong argument could be made that he's simply a HeroOfAnotherStory.

** Actually, a very strong argument could be made that he's simply a HeroOfAnotherStory.
* In ''{{Don Giovanni}}'' by Mozart, Donna Elvira makes two wrong conclusions. When she's in her {{Love Martyr}} mode, she thinks she's the heroine of a romance story, destined to [[ICanChangeMyBeloved redeem]] [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys the roguish]] [[DracoInLeatherPants anti-hero]] with her love. When she's in her {{Woman Scorned}} mode, she correctly realizes that she's in a story of an irredeemable rake's divinely-ordaned punishment, but wrongly assumes that ''she'' will be the one to punish him. Actually, she's just a tragicomic supporting character, and the real agent of the Don's punishment is [[LivingStatue a much]] [[OurGhostsAreDifferent more imposing]] [[NightmareFuel figure]].

* In the 18th century play ''Nathan the Wise'', Nathan's servant Daya is reasonably savvy of the "Columbine" role in commedia del'arte and thus sees it as her duty to find a mate for Nathan's daughter. However, the young crusader that Daya tries to fix up with the daughter [[IncestIsRelative turns out to be the daughter's long-lost brother]]. In commedia del'arte, this kind of ContrivedCoincidence is fairly common, so you could say that the guy would either be the love interest or the long-lost brother, and Daya made the wrong conclusion. There's also an aspect that although Daya knows that Nathan is a nice guy, she has antisemitic prejudices, and thus tends to act like the play she is in is ''Theatre/TheMerchantOfVenice''.

** Rodrigo of ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'' think that he's the rake protagonist in a CommediaDellArte play, who seduces the [[MayDecemberRomance pretty young wife of an old man]]. But he's actually more like a CasanovaWannabe-type, who is conned by the conniving servant. Making things worse is that he's in a tragedy, not a comedy, and the conniving servant is [[TheChessmaster Iago]].
** Polonius in ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' thinks he's in a StarCrossedLovers comedy, where every problem is caused by unrequited love and can be solved with eavesdropping. Unfortunately for him, he's in a revenge tragedy. As with Roderigo, he fits a CommediaDellArte stock character who happens to be in a tragedy (Roderigo is a Captain / MilesGloriosus type, and Polonius is the Pantalone/Dottore character).

* Rodrigo of ''Theatre/{{Othello}}'' fits this on two levels. He thinks he's the rake protagonist who seduces the [[MayDecemberRomance pretty young wife of an old man]], but he's actually more like a CasanovaWannabe-type who gets conned by the conniving servant. Making things worse is that he's in a tragedy, not a comedy, and the conniving servant is [[TheChessmaster Iago]].
* Polonius in ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' thinks he's in a StarCrossedLovers comedy, where every problem is caused by unrequited love and can be solved with eavesdropping. Unfortunately for him, he's in a revenge tragedy. As with Roderigo, he fits a CommediaDellArte stock character who happens to be in a tragedy (Roderigo is a Captain / MilesGloriosus type, and Polonius is the Pantalone/Dottore character).
* Deconstructed with Tybalt in ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'', who doesn't realise he's in a romantic comedy, and winds up [[HalfwayPlotSwitch derailing the plot]] into a tragedy with his killing of Mercutio.
* In ''Theatre/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet'', Anthony thinks that he's the hero who rescues the beautiful maiden who's been locked in a tower by an evil old man. Unfortunately, he's in a StephenSondheim musical ...

* In Mozart's opera ''{{Don Giovanni}}'', Donna Elvira shows two types of Wrong Genre Savviness. When she's in her {{Love Martyr}} mode, she thinks she's the heroine of a romance story, destined to [[ICanChangeMyBeloved redeem]] [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys the roguish]] [[DracoInLeatherPants anti-hero]] with her love. When she's in her {{Woman Scorned}} mode, she correctly realizes that she's in a story of an irredeemable rake's divinely-ordaned punishment, but wrongly assumes that ''she'' will be the one to punish him. Actually, she's just a tragicomic supporting character, and the real agent of the Don's punishment is [[LivingStatue a much]] [[OurGhostsAreDifferent more imposing]] [[NightmareFuel figure]].

** Actually, a very strong argument could be made that he's simply a HeroOfAnotherStory.

** Actually, a very strong argument could be made that he's simply a HeroOfAnotherStory.
* In Mozart's opera ''{{Don Giovanni}}'', Donna Elvira shows two types of Wrong Genre Savviness. When she's in her {{Love Martyr}} mode, she thinks she's the heroine of a romance story, destined to [[ICanChangeMyBeloved redeem]] [[AllGirlsWantBadBoys the roguish]] [[DracoInLeatherPants anti-hero]] with her love. When she's in her {{Woman Scorned}} mode, she correctly realizes that she's in a story of an irredeemable rake's divinely-ordaned punishment, but wrongly assumes that ''she'' will be the one to punish him. Actually, she's just a tragicomic supporting character, and the real agent of the Don's punishment is [[LivingStatue a much]] [[OurGhostsAreDifferent more imposing]] [[NightmareFuel figure]].

** Actually, a very strong argument could be made that he's simply a HeroOfAnotherStory.