ChatterBank2 mins ago
farce
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The standard English dictionaries (Oxford/Chambers) and the phrase books I have do not even mention this expression but I have heard it said a few times.
Can anyone tell me what is meant by the expression "When farce became farcical" ?
Thanking you.
Can anyone tell me what is meant by the expression "When farce became farcical" ?
Thanking you.
Answers
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TCL-MUMPING , thanks. I too tried google but no joy there, either.
I have heard it said (a few times) in shows on television arts programmes. Usually by the literary pundits of some kind. Difficult to understand their meaning even in that context. May be I have to wait and catch that said again by some one on these literary programmes. I will, perhaps, post this question again if I get a proper quotation.
thanks any way.
I have heard it said (a few times) in shows on television arts programmes. Usually by the literary pundits of some kind. Difficult to understand their meaning even in that context. May be I have to wait and catch that said again by some one on these literary programmes. I will, perhaps, post this question again if I get a proper quotation.
thanks any way.
Here's how I interpret that phrase:
When you watch, say, a well-produced farce by Georges Feydeau you are seeing two things. Firstly, you're seeing a finely crafted work of literature, performed with precision and perfect timing by expert artists. At the same time, the events within the play appear to be chaotic and disorganised. So you're watching a farce but the events around it (e.g. the production levels) are far from farcical.
Let's suppose though that you go to an amateur production of the same play, where the standards are far lower and everything goes wrong. The actors can't remember their lines; the lead character's mobile phone goes off in his pocket halfway through a key speech; the curtains get stuck half open; the lights blow the master fuse and everything goes black; a dog runs onto the stage; etc; etc.
In that situation you were meant to have been watching a farce but the situation around it has itself become farcical. i.e. farce has become farcical. The same phrase can be used, by extension, to refer to the work of an author who is trying to, say, mimic the style of Tom Sharpe but who makes a complete hash of it.
Chris
When you watch, say, a well-produced farce by Georges Feydeau you are seeing two things. Firstly, you're seeing a finely crafted work of literature, performed with precision and perfect timing by expert artists. At the same time, the events within the play appear to be chaotic and disorganised. So you're watching a farce but the events around it (e.g. the production levels) are far from farcical.
Let's suppose though that you go to an amateur production of the same play, where the standards are far lower and everything goes wrong. The actors can't remember their lines; the lead character's mobile phone goes off in his pocket halfway through a key speech; the curtains get stuck half open; the lights blow the master fuse and everything goes black; a dog runs onto the stage; etc; etc.
In that situation you were meant to have been watching a farce but the situation around it has itself become farcical. i.e. farce has become farcical. The same phrase can be used, by extension, to refer to the work of an author who is trying to, say, mimic the style of Tom Sharpe but who makes a complete hash of it.
Chris
My interpretation of its similar to Chris's but put in a nutshell - a farce is the name given to a comedic situation, either in the context of a show, programme, or some spoken act.
If something goes wrong to make it appear even funnier, that's when I'd say a farce becomes a farce, or said with ironic/sarcastic connotations, intended to cause further (wry) amusement.
If something goes wrong to make it appear even funnier, that's when I'd say a farce becomes a farce, or said with ironic/sarcastic connotations, intended to cause further (wry) amusement.
from Chambers
farce
n comedy of extravagant humour, buffoonery, and improbability; a ridiculous or meaningless display; a hollow formality; stuffing or forcemeat.
vt to cram; to stuff, fill with stuffing; to swell out ().
[Fr farce stuffing, from L farc\-ire to stuff; the connecting links of meaning seem to be interpolation, theatrical gag, buffoonery; cf farse]
farceur or (fem) farceuse n () a joker or buffoon; a person who writes or acts in farces.
farci adj (; ) stuffed.
farcical adj.
farcicality n farcical quality.
farcically adv.
farcify vt to turn into a farce.
farcing n () stuffing.
\u00A9 Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd: The Chambers Dictionary 2003; The Chambers Thesaurus 2004
farce
n comedy of extravagant humour, buffoonery, and improbability; a ridiculous or meaningless display; a hollow formality; stuffing or forcemeat.
vt to cram; to stuff, fill with stuffing; to swell out ().
[Fr farce stuffing, from L farc\-ire to stuff; the connecting links of meaning seem to be interpolation, theatrical gag, buffoonery; cf farse]
farceur or (fem) farceuse n () a joker or buffoon; a person who writes or acts in farces.
farci adj (; ) stuffed.
farcical adj.
farcicality n farcical quality.
farcically adv.
farcify vt to turn into a farce.
farcing n () stuffing.
\u00A9 Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd: The Chambers Dictionary 2003; The Chambers Thesaurus 2004
London's Trafalgar Studios was formerly the Whitehall Theatre and famous in the 1950s and '60s for its series of farces, comic plays with 'hilarious' plots which featured situations getting out of hand and innocent parties being discovered by irate wives/husbands in compromising circumstances (and wardrobes, under beds, etc.). There was much trouser-dropping and cringing, red-faced innuendo. Most of them featured actor Brian Rix who later became head (no pun intended) of MENCAP and, I think, knighted. "A bit of a farce" is a fiasco, a situation that has become ridiculous (as in many bureaucratic and governmental arenas).
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