Was doing a little research on the history of farce today, as prep for a panel discussion I’m sitting on this Sunday (yes, the one referred to in the previous post). And just for laffs I decided to Google the string “how to write farce” to see what writers would say, since typically a tight structure underlies the apparent chaos of farcical plots.
Sure enough, immediately a video pops up that lays it all out for you. Amusingly, the video itself has farcical elements, in that the speaker’s delivery is so deadpan as to make you wonder if she’s having you on:
How to Write a Farce -- powered by eHow.com
So you see, sometimes form does not match content, with perplexing results.
Also I came across this great quote by Neil Simon, whose play Rumors is about as zany as farce gets:
At the final curtain, the audience must be as spent as the actors, who by now are on oxygen support. If the audience is only wheezing with laughter, you need rewrites or actors with stronger lungs.
Perfect. Simon could just as easily been describing The Lying Kind.
