Farce is a comedy that seeks to entertain an audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, ridiculous, absurd, and improbable.
Genre
Despite involving absurd situations and characters, the genre generally maintains at least a slight degree of realism and narrative continuity within the context of the irrational or ludicrous situations, often distinguishing it from completely absurdist or fantastical genres. Farces are often episodic or short in duration, often being set in one specific location where all events occur. Farces have historically been performed for the
theatre and film.
Historical context
The term
farce is derived from the French word for "stuffing", in reference to improvisations applied by actors to medieval
Liturgical drama. Later forms of this drama were performed as comical interludes during the 15th and 16th centuries.
The oldest surviving farce may be
Le Garçon et l'aveugle (
The Boy and the Blind Man) from after 1266, although the earliest farces that can be dated come from between 1450 and 1550. The best known farce is
La Farce de maître Pathelin (
The Farce of Master Pathelin) from c. 1460, although, at some 1500 verses long, it is among the most unusual.
The entire repertoire of typically shorter pieces experienced a heyday in medieval and Renaissance France, where over 200 such comedies survive. Over 70 of these have been translated into English, many of which can be found in these anthologies:
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Axton, Richard, and John Stevens, trans. Medieval French Plays. Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1971.
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Boucquey, Thierry, trans. Six Medieval French Farces. Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen, 1999.
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Denny, Neville, ed. and trans. Medieval Interludes. London: Ginn, 1972.
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Enders, Jody, ed. and trans. “The Farce of the Fart” and Other Ribaldries: Twelve Medieval French Plays in Modern English. The Middle Ages Series. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011.
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Enders, Jody. “Holy Deadlock” and Further Ribaldries: Another Dozen Medieval French Plays in Modern English. The Middle Ages Series. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017.
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Enders, Jody, ed. and trans. Immaculate Deception and Further Ribaldries: Yet Another Dozen Medieval French Plays in Modern English. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2022.
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Enders, Jody, ed. and trans. Trial by Farce: A Dozen Medieval French Comedies in Modern English for the Stage. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2023.
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Mandel, Oscar, trans. Five Comedies of Medieval France. 1970; rpt. Boston and London: University Press of America, 1982.
Spoof films such as Spaceballs, a comedy based on the Star Wars movies, are farces.
Sir George Grove opined that the "farce" began as a canticle in the common French tongue intermixed with Latin. It became a vehicle for satire and fun, and thus led to the modern Farsa or Farce, a piece in one act, the subject of which is extravagant and the action ludicrous.
See also
External links
