Talk:Farce

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[edit] John Mortimer quote

Regarding this quote:

"Farce... plays are really tragedies played at high speed... The world of farce is necessarily square, solid, respectable and totally sure of itself, only so can it be exploded... events must occur only to the most dignified and highly moral persons... small longings become alarming reality... the world of common sense whirls and dips like a drunkard's bedroom. The first small domestic misunderstanding, the gentlest of white lies, brings down a series of disasters as inevitable and appalling as a Greek tragedy." – John Mortimer

It was added as the first thing in the article.

  1. It's heavily edited with "...", but there is no source where it came from (other than a prolific author), so it's not possible for the reader to find the full quote.
  2. It's generally bad form to define a term with a quote as the first thing in an article. Quotes should be used to support the text, not replace it.

--Stbalbach 15:40, 7 April 2006 (UTC)

  1. The quote is edited as it is written in reference to a single play - so the specific playwright/play parts had to be excised. Source... >shrug< it's not from a book on plays or farces so why include it. You know who wrote it, you can therefore make your opinion of its merit from your view of the author.
  2. My first thought was to delete the seven flabby paragraphs and just leave the quote. If a single quote offers a fine and concise definition of the term it seems worthwhile to include it.
81.104.47.20 21:19, 10 April 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Nature of the Transgression

The article currently states: "in the 20th century, it was mainly infidelity". Not only is this unsourced, I think it is untrue. Some of the best recent farces (Fawlty Towers, Noises Off, Loot), the characters are primarily trying to cover up some gross incompetence or crime, although there may be some sexual shenanigans as well. --RichardVeryard 15:11, 10 June 2007 (UTC)