Farce / 5m, 4f, extras / Unit set A normally sober doctor awakens to find that he brought two things home from Maxim's last night: a hangover and a lady of the evening. His wife is diverted from discovering the tart by one of her famous visitations from a popular saint. The doctor's uncle returns after a long army tour in Africa and promptly mistakes the lady from Maxim's for his nephew's wife. Uncle's immediate business is marrying off a niece to a young soldier who turns out to be the true

Farce has always been relegated to the lowest rung of the ladder of dramatic genres. Distinctions between farce and more literary comic forms remain clouded, even in the light of contemporary efforts to rehabilitate this type of comedy. Is farce really nothing more than slapstick-the "putting out of candles, kicking down of tables, falling over joynt-stools," as Thomas Shadwell characterized it in the seventeenth century? Or was his contemporary, Nahum Tate correct when he declared triumphantly that "there are no rules to be prescribed for that sort of wit, no patterns to copy; and 'tis altogether the creature of imagination"? Davis shows farce to be an essential component in both the comedic and tragic traditions. Farce sets out to explore the territory of what makes farce distinct as a comic genre. Its lowly origins date back to the classic Graeco-Roman theatre; but when formal drama was reborn by the process of elaboration of ritual within the mediaeval Church, the French term "farce" became synonymous with a recognizable style of comic performance. Taking a wide range of farces from the briefest and most basic of fair-ground mountebank performances to fully-fledged five-act structures from the late nineteenth century, the book reveals the patterns of comic plot and counter-plot that are common to all. The result is a novel classification of farce-plots, which serves to clarify the differences between farce and more literary comic forms and to show how quickly farce can shade into other styles of humor. The key is a careful balance between a revolt against order and propriety, and a kind of Realpolitik which ultimately restores the social conventions under attack. A complex array of devices in such things as framing, plot, characterization, timing and acting style maintain the delicate balance. Contemporary examples from the London stage bring the discussion u

Kenneth McLeish's definitive translations of the most successful French dramatist of the Belle Epoque Georges Feydau (1862-1921) was the most successful French dramatist of the belle epoque and is now widely regarded as one of the greatest of farce-writers. His series of dazzling hits match high-speed action and dialogue with ingenious plotting. Reaching the heights of farcical lunacy, his plays nevertheless contain touches of barbed social comment and allowed him to mention subjects which would have provoked outrage in the hands of more serious dramatists. This volume of new, sparkling translations by Kenneth McLeish contains his two masterpieces, Heart's Desire Hotel (L'Hôtel du libre échange) and Sauce For the Goose (Le Dindon), with three other plays from the peak of his career, The One That Got Away (Monsieur Chasse!), Now You See It (Le System Ribadier) and Pig in a Poke (Chat en poche).

This volume provides a critical examination of the lives and works of the leading novelists, poets, dramatists, artists, philosophers, social thinkers, mathematicians and scientists of the period. The subjects are assessed in the light of their cultural importance, and each entry is deliberately interpretative, making this work both an essential reference tool and an engaging collection of essays. Figures covered include: Marx, Wagner,Darwin, Malthus, Balzac, Jane Austen, Nietzsche, Babbage, Edgar Allan Poe, Ruskin, Schleiermacher, Herbert Spencer, Harriet Martineau and Oscar Wilde.