Bedroom farce
Encyclopedia
A bedroom farce or sex farce is a type of light comedy
, centered on the sexual pairings and recombinations of characters as they move through improbable plots and slamming doors. The bedroom farce is perhaps the most common form of farce
.
The most famous bedroom farceur is probably Georges Feydeau
, whose collections of coincidences, slamming doors, and ridiculous dialogue delighted Paris in the 1890s and are now considered forerunners to the Theatre of the Absurd
. The Viennese
playwright Arthur Schnitzler
took bedroom farce to its highest dramatic level in his La Ronde
, which in ten bedroom scenes connects the highest and lowest of Vienna.
In modern times, Woody Allen
's A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy
(1982) and the television series Fawlty Towers
both present aspects of the bedroom farce. Michael Frayn
's 1977 play Donkeys' Years
is a classic bedroom farce; Frayn parodied the genre in his 1982 play Noises Off
via its play-within-the-play, "Nothing On." Alan Ayckbourn
's play, entitled Bedroom Farce, looks at the lives of three couples seen in their own bedrooms, the stage being split into three sets for this purpose. There is much humour in the play, although few if any of the usual conventions of farce are observed.
Boeing Boeing
is a classic French farce for the stage by Marc Camoletti. Monopolizing on most of the conventions of farce's canon, it concerns a Parisian playboy bachelor with three international stewardess fiancées he secretly keeps in careful rotation until their flight schedules change and he, along with his provincial friend and sassy maid, must keep them from finding out about each other. Lucky they have enough doors in the apartment to keep the girls unwittingly flitting about for two hours.
American three-camera situation comedy, an extension of proscenium stage tradition, often include elements of farce, specifically in several episodes of Three's Company
, the "Woody's Wedding" episode of Cheers
and "The Ski Lodge" episode of Frasier
.
Note that in French the modern meaning of vaudeville
is "bedroom farce", unlike in English (see false friend
).
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
, centered on the sexual pairings and recombinations of characters as they move through improbable plots and slamming doors. The bedroom farce is perhaps the most common form of farce
Farce
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims at entertaining the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases,...
.
The most famous bedroom farceur is probably Georges Feydeau
Georges Feydeau
Georges Feydeau was a French playwright of the era known as the Belle Époque. He is remembered for his many lively farces.-Biography:Georges Feydeau was born in Paris, the son of novelist Ernest-Aimé Feydeau and Léocadie Bogaslawa Zalewska. At the age of twenty, Feydeau wrote his first comic...
, whose collections of coincidences, slamming doors, and ridiculous dialogue delighted Paris in the 1890s and are now considered forerunners to the Theatre of the Absurd
Theatre of the Absurd
The Theatre of the Absurd is a designation for particular plays of absurdist fiction, written by a number of primarily European playwrights in the late 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, as well as to the style of theatre which has evolved from their work...
. The Viennese
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
playwright Arthur Schnitzler
Arthur Schnitzler
Dr. Arthur Schnitzler was an Austrian author and dramatist.- Biography :Arthur Schnitzler, son of a prominent Hungarian-Jewish laryngologist Johann Schnitzler and Luise Markbreiter , was born in Praterstraße 16, Leopoldstadt, Vienna, in the Austro-Hungarian...
took bedroom farce to its highest dramatic level in his La Ronde
La Ronde (play)
La Ronde is a 1900 play by Arthur Schnitzler. It scrutinizes the sexual morals and class ideology of its day through a series of encounters between pairs of characters . By choosing characters across all levels of society, the play offers social commentary on how sexual contact transgresses...
, which in ten bedroom scenes connects the highest and lowest of Vienna.
In modern times, Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...
's A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy
A Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy is a 1982 film written, directed by and starring Woody Allen.The plot is loosely based on Ingmar Bergman's Smiles of a Summer Night. This was the first of 13 movies that Allen would make starring Mia Farrow...
(1982) and the television series Fawlty Towers
Fawlty Towers
Fawlty Towers is a British sitcom produced by BBC Television and first broadcast on BBC2 in 1975. Twelve television program episodes were produced . The show was written by John Cleese and his then wife Connie Booth, both of whom played major characters...
both present aspects of the bedroom farce. Michael Frayn
Michael Frayn
Michael J. Frayn is an English playwright and novelist. He is best known as the author of the farce Noises Off and the dramas Copenhagen and Democracy...
's 1977 play Donkeys' Years
Donkeys' Years
Donkeys' Years is a play by English playwright Michael Frayn that premiered at the Globe Theatre, London, in 1976.The play is a West End farce, a genre that Frayn parodied five years later in his play within a play "Nothing On" from Noises Off....
is a classic bedroom farce; Frayn parodied the genre in his 1982 play Noises Off
Noises Off
Noises Off is a 1982 play by English playwright Michael Frayn. The idea for it was born in 1970, when Frayn was standing in the wings watching a performance of Chinamen, a farce that he had written for Lynn Redgrave...
via its play-within-the-play, "Nothing On." Alan Ayckbourn
Alan Ayckbourn
Sir Alan Ayckbourn CBE is a prolific English playwright. He has written and produced seventy-three full-length plays in Scarborough and London and was, between 1972 and 2009, the artistic director of the Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough, where all but four of his plays have received their...
's play, entitled Bedroom Farce, looks at the lives of three couples seen in their own bedrooms, the stage being split into three sets for this purpose. There is much humour in the play, although few if any of the usual conventions of farce are observed.
Boeing Boeing
Boeing Boeing (play)
Boeing-Boeing is a classic farce written by French playwright Marc Camoletti. The English language adaptation, translated by Beverley Cross, was first staged in London at the Apollo Theatre in 1962 and transferred to the Duchess Theatre in 1965, running for a total of seven years...
is a classic French farce for the stage by Marc Camoletti. Monopolizing on most of the conventions of farce's canon, it concerns a Parisian playboy bachelor with three international stewardess fiancées he secretly keeps in careful rotation until their flight schedules change and he, along with his provincial friend and sassy maid, must keep them from finding out about each other. Lucky they have enough doors in the apartment to keep the girls unwittingly flitting about for two hours.
American three-camera situation comedy, an extension of proscenium stage tradition, often include elements of farce, specifically in several episodes of Three's Company
Three's Company
Three's Company is an American sitcom that aired from March 15, 1977, to September 18, 1984, on ABC. It is based on the British sitcom, Man About the House....
, the "Woody's Wedding" episode of Cheers
Cheers
Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
and "The Ski Lodge" episode of Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
.
Note that in French the modern meaning of vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
is "bedroom farce", unlike in English (see false friend
False friend
False friends are pairs of words or phrases in two languages or dialects that look or sound similar, but differ in meaning....
).