Farce

Farce: meaning

In farce plays, we find characters with exaggerated features put in absurd situations.

The chief purpose of a farce is to create laughter and entertain the audience. Playwrights use different techniques of comedy and performance to achieve this, often using fast-paced and humorous physical movement, dilemmas, harmless violence, lies, and deception.

Farce: history

We can find the precursors of farce in ancient Greek and Roman theatres. However, the term farce was first used in 15th-century France to describe the combination of different types of physical comedy, like clowning, caricature, and vulgarity, into a single form of theatre. The term originated from the French cooking term farcir, which means 'to stuff'. In the early sixteenth century, it became a metaphor for comic interludes that were inserted into the scripts of religious plays.

French farce gained popularity throughout Europe. It was adopted by the British playwright John Heywood (1497–1580) in the 16th century.

Farce emerged as a vital art form during the Middle Ages in Europe. Farce was a popular genre during the fifteenth century and the Renaissance, which counters the common perception of farce as 'low' comedy. It was a crowd-pleaser and also profited from the advent of the printing press. William Shakespeare (1564–1616) and the French playwright Molière (1622–1673) relied on elements of farce in their comedies.

Although it diminished in fame in the theatre, farce stood the test of time and survived till the 19th and early 20th centuries through plays like Brandon Thomas's (1848–1914) Charley’s Aunt (1892). It found a new medium of expression with the help of innovative filmmakers like Charlie Chaplin (1889–1977).

Fig. 1 Example of a scene from a farce comedy

Characteristics of farce

The elements found in farce plays vary, but these are the common characteristics of farce in theatre:

• Absurd or unrealistic plots and settings usually form the background for farce. Yet they tend to have happy endings.
• Farce involves exaggerated scenes and shallow character development. The plot of a farce often contains role reversals that go against social conventions, unexpected twists, mistaken identities, misunderstandings, and violence resolved through comedy.
• Instead of slow, in-depth development of the plot, farce comedies involve quick action suitable for comedic timing.
• Unique character roles and one-dimensional characters are common in farce plays. Often, characters with little background or relevance are introduced for the sake of comedy.
• Characters in farce plays tend to be witty. The dialogues include quick comebacks and sassy witticisms. The language and characterisation in the farce may not be politically correct or diplomatic.

Farce: comedy

Farce plays often contain horseplay, vulgarity and buffoonery, which were important features of comedy before Shakespeare. It is speculated that this was done to reflect the comic and unpredictable nature of life different from its idealistic portrayals. Farce is generally regarded as inferior in terms of intellectual and literary quality. However, the subject of farce varies from politics, religion, sexuality, marriage, and social class. As a theatrical genre, farce gives more importance to actions than words, and therefore dialogues are often less important than actions.

Farce: example

Farce is originally a theatrical genre, and it has been adopted and popularised by filmmakers.

Farce plays

In medieval France, short farce plays were inserted or 'stuffed' into bigger, more serious plays. Therefore, the history of French theatre is incomplete without a consideration of the popular farce performances.

Farce plays in French

As you may understand from the titles, farce comedies are usually based on trivial and crude subjects. Many of these farces are of anonymous origins and were performed in France during the middle ages (c. 900–1300 CE).

Prominent examples include The Farce of the Fart (Farce nouvelle et fort joyeuse du Pect), approximately created in 1476, and Monkey Business, or, A Marvelous New Farce for Four Actors, to Wit, the Cobbler, the Monk, the Wife, and the Gatekeeper (Le Savetier, le Moyne, la Femme, et le Portier), written between 1480 and 1492.

Other notable farce productions from French theatre include Eugène-Marin Labiche’s (1815–1888) Le Chapeau de paille d’Italie (1851), and Georges Feydeau’s (1862–1921) La Puce à l’oreille (1907) as well as farces written by Molière.

Shakespeare's comedies

You may be surprised to know that despite its 'low' status, Shakespeare, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest playwrights of all time, wrote many comedies that are farcical.

Fig.2 Shakespeare's Globe, located in London

It is hypothesised that the model of farce in Shakespeare's comedies is based on the characters' refusal to be complicit in the social circumstances around them. The farcical nature of the comedies is, therefore, a manifestation of their rebellion. Famous comedies such as Taming of the Shrew (1592–4), The Merry Wives of Windsor (1597), and The Comedy of Errors (1592–4) contain an unmistakable element of farce.

Joe Orton's What the Butler Saw (1967), The Importance of Being Ernest (1895) by Oscar Wilde, Dario Fo’s Italian play Accidental Death of an Anarchist (1974), Michael Frayn’s Noises Off (1982), Alan Ayckbourn’s Communicating Doors (1995), and Marc Camoletti’s Boeing-Boeing (1960) are more recent examples of farce.