Farce is a comedy style often used in sitcom and widely in theatre plays. Plots will consist of deliberately absurd and ludicrous incidents with lots of exaggeration and highly improbable boundaries. The situations created will be fast paced and hectic and characters will often be hiding the truth from one another. A lie or fib will lead to an acceleration in circumstances resulting in further mis-truths having to be told and the character involved getting into an even worse tangle. The audience often know the secret so shares in the joke. They may be sympathetic or , alternatively, stressed at the thought of what will happen when the truth comes out. Mis-understandings and mis-interpretations will be rife leading to a frantic conclusion together with a plot twist,which the audience may or may not have seen coming. Settings for farce are normally relatively confined places, such as two or three rooms in a house or building. The characters will move from room to room as the story unfolds. Theatre plays often centre around bedrooms, with characters ending up in the wrong beds and rooms (the modern meaning of the French word vaudeville is bedroom farce). Farce can be both verbal and physical.
Farce has a long history and when performed with expertise it is a rich and hugely enjoyable experience to watch. Shakespeare's 'The Comedy Of Errors' was a very early farce. 'The Importance Of Being Earnest' by Oscar Wilde is another classic play based on farce. More modern productions are 'No Sex Please, We're British' by Anthony Marriott and Alistair Foot, and Ray Cooney's 'Run For Your Wife'. One of the great British farce actors was Brian Rix who was occasionally on our TV screens in the 70's but was essentially a stage actor and usually lost his trousers at some stage of the play !
Many sitcoms, as with comedy films, often rely on farce for just the odd episode or scene, and is mixed in with other comedy styles. Three well known British sitcoms that immediately come to mind are 'Allo 'Allo, Duty Free, and Sykes. The master farce series though was Fawlty Towers. Whilst the series revolved around the rudeness, eccentricity and general hopelessness of Basil, the greatest fun emerged from the plot lines themselves. Basil merely needed the shovel in order to dig larger and larger holes for himself. Sybil was normally the character kept in the dark or the hotel residents. Polly held it all together, aiding and abetting Basil with lies and cover stories. Like so many other people, I have watched all 12 episodes time and time again and never get fed up of them. They remain as original as they were when first screened (in 1975 and 1979). The farce is of course diluted when you know the outcome. I remember watching the episodes when they were first shown on television. There was a very definite panic element. You could see situations emerging before your very eyes ( Basil in the wardrobe of the pretty Australian girl..........Sybil comes into bedroom to apologise for her husband's behaviour............then you see his hooked finger holding the wardrobe door shut.............and you just know that Sybil will spot his finger! ) and somehow you wanted to intervene or maybe cover your face because you knew what was about to happen would be embarrassing. There was more fantastic farce in the 'corpse' episode , and also the story where Basil wins a gamble on the horses but has to hide it from Sybil (again with Polly's help). Almost all the scenes were in the hotel (notable exception beating his car up with a branch from a tree). The reception area allowed constant movement from one room to another such as bar, dining room, kitchen and bedrooms. I always thought it clever that the reception desk had an office close by............it was an ideal retreat for confirming stories or sharing a secret and away from the ears of Sybil or the guests. In the majority of cases the farce would end with Basil getting his come-uppance. Watchers would be almost tired out by the pace of events and in particular the speed in which Basil's position just went from bad to worse. Fawlty Towers was brilliantly written, of that there is no doubt.
I watched an episode of Rising Damp the other day which contained a wonderful example of farce. It was called Pink Carnations and was one of the final episodes of this series to be screened ( only two further shows were to follow this one ). Rigsby places an ad in the local paper looking for love. As you might expect his description of himself is something less than accurate; he is a sophisticated young businessman with plenty of prospects. He gets one written reply and after telephoning (to a phone box) arranges to meet the young lady at the George PH. Both have agreed to wear pink carnations as identification. What Rigsby does not know but the viewers do , is that it was Miss Jones who replied , thinking the man sounded like an ideal lover.
Rigsby, admirably attired in tweed suit with top coat draped over his shoulders, arrives at The George and sets about finding his woman with her pink carnation. But he finds Miss Jones sitting quietly on her own 'waiting for a friend ' but does not notice the pink carnation on the table. She does not want Rigsby around when her man arrives so excuses herself by going off to powder her nose. Meantime, a newly married couple arrive at the bar. It is their wedding day and they have a private room booked for their reception. The groom leaves his bride whilst he goes to see if the room is ready. Spotting the woman , together with a pink carnation (it is after all her wedding day !) Rigsby naturally assumes she is his date and moves in on her. She is horrified as he propositions her, declaring she is 'a married woman'. Rigsby is disgusted she did not mention she was married in her letter. Husband arrives back at the bar , wants to know why his new wife has written to this man, and accuses her of being unfaithful. They row and she runs out of the pub in tears.
The husband then approaches Miss Jones who is still sitting quietly and patiently. She of course sees he is wearing a pink carnation ( it is after all his wedding day ! ) and naturally assumes her date has arrived at last. She wastes no time and is soon all over him. His wife re-enters the pub and catches him in a compromising position with Miss Jones. It is now his turn to be accused of being unfaithful and for the second time the bride runs out crying. This time she sees her formidable mother on the way out , wearing a pink carnation ( she is after all a guest at her daughters wedding ! ). Mother verbally attacks new son-in-law who blames Rigsby as the cause of all the trouble. Rigsby is by this stage sitting on his own and somewhat brassed off at being stood up. Mother goes after Rigsby to sort him out. On seeing her pink carnation he naturally assumes his date has arrived at last. He is mortified by her age and dragon-like ways but Rigsby being Rigsby he decides she is the best he is likely to get that night so propositions her anyway. She is greatly offended and goes to fetch her husband.
The manic scene calms at this stage. Rigsby goes and sits with Miss Jones. They are both disappointed and deflated that their dates did not turn up. It is now that they both spot that they each have a pink carnation and the penny drops that they were in fact meeting each other. They both readily admit to being liberal with the truth regarding their personal descriptions, laugh about it and even seem to be getting a little romantic towards one another, in a resigned sort of way , when............................the father of the bride enters the pub, tears Rigsby away from Miss Jones, and with the help of the barman, throws him out on his ear!!
A final thought on farce, and a great quote attributed to Chuck Jones, the American animator ( Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Road Runner ) :
Comedy is unusual people in real situations
Farce is real people in unusual situations.
Kind of sums it up, don't you think ?
No comments:
Post a Comment