FARCE & STOCK CHARACTERS Zaya

FARCE  A comedy characterized by highly improbable plot situations, exaggerated characters, and often slapstick elements are used for humorous effect.

 Aims to entertain the audience by means of unlikely, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases, culminating in an ending which often involves an elaborate chase scene.  Also characterized by physical humor

 The Second Shepherds' Play About a thief, Mak, who steals a sheep from three shepherds. He and his wife, Gill, attempt to deceive the shepherds by pretending the sheep is their son. The shepherds are fooled at first. However, they later discover Mak's deception and toss him on a blanket as a punishment.

IS HE DEAD? BY MARK TWAIN  Focuses on a fictional version of the great French painter Jean-Francois Millet as an impoverished artist in Barbizon, France who, with the help of his colleagues, stages his death in order to increase the value of his paintings.

THE THREE STOOGES

STOCK CHARACTER  a fictional character who is quickly recognized and accepted by the reader or viewer and requiring no development by the writer.  rely heavily on cultural types or names for their personality, manner of speech, and other characteristics

As You Like It & Twelfth Night by Shakespeare  Interfering father  The clever servant  The rival suitor

MORE…  Old Comedy of Greek Drama: self-deceiving braggart, and self-deprecating character. The playwright Menander created stereotypical cooks, merchants, farmers, soldiers and slave characters, plus the "Fisherman, Peevish Man, Promiser, Heiress, Priestess, False Accuser, Shipmaster, Widow" and others.

IN ENGLISH THEATER  Medieval romances: damsel in distress; contemptuous dwarf; chivalrous, handsome young knight; wild man of the woods; and ugly old man married to a younger girl.  Nineteenth-century melodrama: noble hero, persecuted maiden, aristocratic villain, stalwart sailor, faithful servant, bumbling sidekick and aged parent.

MODERN STOCK CHARACTERS  Westerns: cowboy hero, civilized rancher, noble lawman, madam, prostitute-with-the-heart-of-gold, town drunkard, settler wife, and a Native American.  Female: Bad Girl/Rebel, Dumb Blonde, Hooker with a Heart of Gold, Nurse, Tomboy, Widow