In a few weeks, I’ll be off to my final residency for my MFA. I have loved every single moment of it, and I will be sad to finish. In my playwriting cohort, we are asked to share something we’ve been working on. Some of us bring things we’ve revised, some of us bring brand new work. I always try to bring something new, just to get some generative critiques. For my final residency, I thought I’d go way outside of my comfort zone. So, I’m writing a farce.
For those who don’t know, a farce is a comedy involving lots of physicality and slamming doors. Yes, you read that correctly. Lots of door slamming. I’ve never written a comedy before, and I’ve certainly never written a farce. I thought, why not? I really enjoy them, especially the British farces, I find them so funny. I’m putting little homages to some of my favorites in my play.
I am learning that writing a farce…is HARD. Not only do I have to try to make it funny, a task difficult enough in itself, but I need to keep track of people and props! In my case, luggage, cocktails (because of course alcohol needs to be involved), and rooms. Not to mention how many drinks each character has had. And that’s just in the first twenty pages! It’s going to get more chaotic! In order to attempt (!) to keep things straight, I made myself a little chart.
I drew a very crude diagram of my set, at least the one in my head, and who stays in which room. Then I marked in where each set of luggage goes, and who gets drinks. It’s a surprisingly difficult amount to keep track of. And I’m not even halfway through the first act. Despite my previous process of sticky noting (see my first posting), I’m finding that diagramming is much more helpful in this case. I’m also trying to write in my notebook as much as possible, character profiles, how each of them interact with one another. It seems to me to be a farce writing a farce! I am going to keep plugging away, though, and, though I feel like I’m going batty, I am thoroughly enjoying writing this ridiculous play.
This is so cool. 😘