I'm not a big fan of the farce, whether it be on stage or in screen form (God forbid that there's such a thing as a book farce!) although I can't honestly say that I've never enjoyed one. Vicki and I saw one at a local theatre within the last year - I don't remember the name, but chances are you wouldn't recognize it even if I did - and while it didn't rock my world, I had a fine enough time at it. And yet something about the structure of such offerings has always seemed off to me, making me reluctant to seek one out or proclaim that I like them.
So of course leave it to Neil Gaiman to succinctly sum up the formula of the farce, such that I can finally understand what I don't understand:
"Good farce is a fascinating artform -- things have to happen cumulatively in exactly the right way, and they have to build to a point where expected disasters happen in unexpected ways while unexpected reverses happen in satisfyingly expected ways -- one opening lie, or deception, or error has to ricochet and build through the plot, repercussing and causing more lies, more doors to open and close. I'd love to create a farce one day, but suspect I don't quite have the head for it."
You and me both, Neil. But at least now I sort of get the structure of what had previously seemed like simply a mixture of chaos and coincidence.
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3 comments:
From Sue G
So you knew I just had to comment on this one. Not a huge fan of farce myself in general... but a great farce is another story. My definition of great is: farce where the plot moves so quickly and the dialogue is so witty that you are incapable of mentally pausing to realize how fundamentally ridiculous and pointless the whole thing is.
Also your cheeks should hurt from laughing.
p.s. I am crushed you do not count the famous Embro lingerie farce circa 1998(Ray Cooney's "Out of Order") as one of the great ones. Sigh.
Would it make things better (or worse), Sue, if I mentioned that I always think of you when I hear the word "farce?" Yikes!
It's astonishingly rewarding to know that you check out my blog from time to time!
Ah the image of Sue in a nightgown, playing dumb and climbing in and out of windows! I could not think of the name of play (Out of Order)last night - I even went googling for it and no luck.
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