French Farce Resources

INTRODUCTORY RESOURCES

• The Drama Teacher Website on French Farce - This can help you get started, but the information is not referenced, so you need to verify the information elsewhere.

• Lantern Theatre Company article on relationship between Commedia Dell'arte and French farce -  This can help you get started, but the information is not referenced, so you need to verify the information elsewhere.

•  Encyclopedia Britannica on Farce

• A History of Farce - Appalachian State University

• Crash Course: Molière  12 minutes - Video

• An Anatomy of Farce by Michael Arditti

• A Flea In Her Ear - educational guide by University of Akron

• French Farce Enjoys a Revival - NPR audio interview with Mark Rylance - AUDIO & TRANSCRIPT - primary source because Mark Rylance is a practitioner of French Farce

BOOKS &  ARTICLES ON FARCE - if you find a book that interests you, see if the NYPL Performing Arts Library has that book and/or ask Ms. Guzowski if the school can purchase it.

• Bermel, Albert, (1990) Farce: A History from Aristophanes to Woody Allen.

• A DOZEN FRENCH FARCES - MEDIEVAL TO MODERN Moliere and Others edited Albert Bermel Published by Limelight Editions

• "The Farce of the Fart" and Other Ribaldries: Twelve Medieval French Plays in Modern English (The Middle Ages Series)

• HE EARLY CAREER OF "FARCE" IN THE THEATRICAL VOCABULARY Leo Hughes - This is on JSTOR, so you may need the Dwight JSTOR password info

• 13th Century French Farce: The Birthplace of French Drama by James Micahel Evatt - Thesis paper on Scribd- very useful resource. Definitely look at this person's bibiography and read the paper, especially good for context.

• The Farce Element in Moliere - A dissertation by Louise Diecks

  • Ooh-la-la, there go my trousers by Alfred Hickling - published in the Guardian

PERFORMANCE CONVENTION RESOURCES

• Tips for Directing Farce - Broadway Educators by Paul Mroczka - Primary source becuase he directs farce professionally.

• Slapstick Comedy

• Slapstick Comedy curriculum

• A Flea In Her Ear - educational guide by University of Akron

• French Farce Enjoys a Revival - NPR audio interview with Mark Rylance - AUDIO & TRANSCRIPT - primary source because Mark Rylance is a practitioner of French Farce

LIVE PERFORMANCES OF FARCE - FULL PERFORMANCES & CLIPS

• Tartuffe - SOTA Music Performance - full performance 1 hour 30 min

• Behind the Scenes at "Imaginary Invalid" - University of Iowa

OTHER RESOURCES

MONOLOGUES:

MALE MONOLOGUES

•  ACASTE - THE MISER - A man bragging about how great he is. Good for exaggeration.

• HARPAGON - THE MISER - An old man freaking out. Good for exaggeration and hysteria.

FEMALE

• THE PRETENTIOUS YOUNG LADIES A monologue from the play by Molière

• THE IMAGINARY INVALID - Moliere - Toinette - Maid pretending to be a doctor