Farce

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Farce

An ancient, yet perennially popular form, farce aims to provoke laughter, but can accommodate a darker vision of humanity's animality and egoism. Farce is characterized by violent verbal and physical activity, accelerating pace, intricate plotting, and iconoclastic impropriety. The works of Brandon Thomas (notably the classic Charley's Aunt -1892), ** , Hotel Paradiso (18**) ** and ** are classic examples, also produced in South Africa.

The term farcetta came into vogue in the 19th century, but basically meant the same thing and was simply used by some authors as an attempt at novelty. (See Allardyce Nicoll's A History of English Drama 1660-1900, Volume 4 (pp 131-135)[1] for instance.


Farce in South Africa

Probably the first South African farce is Charles Etienne Boniface's Clasius (1834). Most farces have been imported : For example Brandon Thomas's "Charley's Aunt" (1892) was produced by Leonard Rayne in 1896 while Gustav Preller produced an Afrikaans version, Piet s'n Tante in 1909. The most prolific early farceur in Cape Dutch and later Afrikaans was Melt Brink, particularly between 1904 and 1921. Other Afrikaans examples include C.J. Langenhoven's Die Onmoontlike Tweeling (The Impossible Twins) (1919), Gerhard J. Beukes's As ons twee eers getroud is! ("Once we two are married") (1952), Bartho Smit's Don Juan onder die boere ("Don Juan among the boers") (1960), P.G. du Plessis's 'n Seder val in Waterkloof ("A Cedar falls in Waterkloof" - 198*), Nico Luwes Die Graswewenaar (198*), **. In English, "Aldwych" and "Whitehall Farces" have been presented by amateur groups, companies (Brian Brooke*) and impresarios (Pieter Toerien*). The early local pioneer of the form in English was Stephen Black ***. More recent locally written farces in English include Pieter-Dirk Uys's* "Farce About Uys" (1983), Clive Howard Morris's "Maid in South Africa* (1987) (directed by the leading South African director-performer of farce, Rex Garner*), Robert Kirby's* "Panics" (1991), Paul Slabolepszy's* "Heel Against the Head" (1995), Fiona Coyne's Glass Roots (2000). (McMurtry)


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