page_title: Farce
section_title: France
hierarchical_section_title: Farce / Examples / France
context_page_description: In theatre, a farce is a comedy that aims at entertaining the audience through situations that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, and thus improbable. Farce is also characterized by physical humor, the use of deliberate absurdity or nonsense, and broadly stylized performances. It is also often set in one particular location, where all events occur. Farces have been written for the stage and film.
  The term farce is derived from the French word for "stuffing", in reference to improvisations applied by actors to medieval religious dramas. Later forms of this drama were performed as comical interludes during the 15th and 16th centuries. The oldest surviving farce may be Le Garçon et l'aveugle from after 1266, although the earliest farces that can be dated come from between 1450 and 1550. The best known farce is La Farce de maître Pathelin from c. 1460.
context_section_description: The Boy and the Blind Man, 13th century, oldest written French farce.
  La Farce de maître Pierre Pathelin (c. 1457)
  The Liar (Corneille) (1644)
  Molière: Tartuffe (1664)
  Molière: The Miser (1668)
  Labiche: La Cagnotte (1864)and other plays.
  Alfred Hennequin and Alfred Delacour: Le Procès Veauradieux (1875)
  Georges Feydeau: Le Dindon (1896) (a.k.a. Sauce for the Goose)
  Octave Mirbeau : Farces et moralités (1904).
  Georges Feydeau: A Flea in Her Ear (1907)
  Marc Camoletti: Boeing Boeing (1960) and Pyjama pour Six (1985) (a.k.a. Don't Dress for Dinner)
  Jean Poiret: La Cage aux Folles (1973)
caption: La Farce de maître Pierre Pathelin
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