ABSTRACT
Comedy, although similar to drama in many ways, plays by its own set of rules that are essential not only to acting and directing but writing as well. Laughter provides a release of repressed anxiety or the gratification of a repressed desire. Farce is arguably the most influential and pervasive comedic form because it isn’t just a style, it’s also a vocabulary that contains all of the nucleic elements of comedy, which can be selectively retrofitted to other comedic styles. Farce is defined as “a comedy characterized by broad satire and improbable situations.” It aims to entertain the audience through circumstances that are highly exaggerated, extravagant, and thus improbable. It is also characterized by physical humor, the deliberate use of absurdity or nonsense, and broadly stylized performances. In fact, most forms of comedy are not meant to strictly document reality - they mean to explicate it through exaggeration.
