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Alec Kerrigan

Theater Appreciation 1
Professor Katy Morris
December 1st, 2014

Analysis of Comedic Theater


Originally, according to Aristotle in the book Poetics, comedic theater existed in the form of
songs or recitations in festivals and gatherings, where phallic objects where carves and thrown around
at straw dummies of public officials. He described the actions as the ridiculous, which is a species of
the ugly. By simply reducing politics to wooden penises, playwrights were able to reduce stereotypes
and other negatives down to simple toilet humor. Humor in this sense, is a statement of a correct
society and an incorrect one. AS Northrop Frye describes, A Society of Youth is pitted against a
Society of Old, in which the Society of Youth ridicules the Society of Old in a way I which the
audience suspects. Regardless of actual position, the playwright wants the audience to feel part of the
Society of Youth, or the good guys. No person would laugh, mcuh less see a play in which they are
depicted as scum throughout the entire performance. In this, the comic playwright is presented with the
problem of making all audiences feel like the good guys, without comprising the message of the play.
There are multiple strategies of doing this.

The first biggest aspect of comedic theater is the suspension of disbelief. For most people, real life
presents problems and issues that audience members looking of a form of escape simply do not wish to
confront in a safe setting. By separating the audience from reality, the playwright can create a reality in
which the audience cannot relate, and therefore enjoy the scene created. Edward Wilson explains
Comedy is based on several principles, including the suspension of natural laws, the contrast
between the social order and the individual, and the comic premise that turns the accepted

notion of things upside down. (10)


It is important to note that suspension of natural law does not necessarily mean a setting that is not
realistic. For example, Avenue Q, written by Bobby Lopez, the setting takes place in a New York
suburb inhabited by post collegiate adults looking to find their way in life. While this may be the most
relatable setting possible for an average theater going audience, the actual plot is far from realistic.
Former actor Gary Coleman takes the role of the superintendent, and one of the characters is a
millionaire porn trading monster. While it is entirely possible to relate to the setting, the characters and
the situations that they are put in are not. By turning reality upside down, audience members are able to
see the world for what may be humorous, rather than what it actually is.

The use of foils is the next utilization in comedic theater. In order to highlight the ridiculousness of one
character. In a theater setting where audiences are meant to laugh, forcing them to analyze a piece
creates a stressful environment where the realities of social class may seep through. Therefore,
playwrights must emphasize the physical aspects of their characters that audiences are meant to find
funny. Marteinson of the University of Toronto explains
The physical object must never appear more credible than, or even distinct from, the mental
one. A mans social status must not seem any less real than his body, and when we mentally
associate concepts of status with an actual person we see, for instance, in a policemans blue
uniform, we must not view this as a disguise, because the social state of being a true officer of t
the law, a mere mental object, must be inseparable, and indistinguishable, from the individual
policeman himself, a real biological organism. (230)
Essentially, by presenting all cultural implications of a characters status in a joking way, audiences
shatter sociology-economic realities of every day life.. Marteinson continues
Laughter, then, is an instinctive reaction to an epistemological checkmate, in particular an event
which shatters and fragments perceptions into the different ontic classes of objects that normally

comprise them. When this occurs, social reality as we know it momentarily ceases to have the
emotional and epistemological value of being real, and the physical world in its cultural poverty
is all that is left standing in perception. (231)
How to Succeed in Business without really trying is the ultimate example of this strategy of comedic
foiling. The play follows JP Finch's goal of going from a window washer to a corporate executive as
quick as possible. To many, corporate America is an elusive old boys club with power beyond the
average person's control . By presenting executives as singing bafoons with strange voices and
mannerisms, audiences are able to fragment the actual power that executives have, thus lessening the
stresses of everyday life. However there must be a character to foil against. Finch in the musical is seen
as the everyday man with a dream, with the executives as the strange men standing against him. The
playwright then can allow the audience to become Finch and experience the humor of corporate
America with them..

The third method that the playwright has available to them is farse, or more commonly known as
slapstick. Princeton encyclopedia of theater defines theater as the following
In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims to entertain the audience by means of unlikely,
extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of
varying degrees of sophistication, which may include sexual innuendo and word play, and a
fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases, culminating in an ending which often involves
an elaborate chase scene. Farce is also characterized by physical humor, the use of deliberate
absurdity or nonsense, and broadly stylized performances. Farces have been written for the
stage and film.
Speaking about his comedy A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, Steven Sondheim
claims that the play features only one joke, with the rest of the play being fully humorous situations. A
possible explanation to this is the simple fact that the older farces that Sondheim plays were based on

were devoid of much political or social commentary, mainly due to those subjects being in the realm of
gods or dictators. Farce, on the other hand, allows the audience to better connect with the protagonist
(The Society of Youth in this case), who struggles against a strange world with odd characters and plot
mechanics. By simply putting the protagonist threw strange situations, the playwright can create a
Society of the Old without having to saterize anything.

In conclusion, all theatrical comedy can be boiled down to an adversarial system, with the correct
protagonist facing off of a incorrect world. By normalizing upper social classes while at the same
time making them ridiculous, an audience can understand the Society of the Old while at the same
time, By suspending disbelief, satirizing, and creating a state of farce, playwrights can highlight
important social issues or subjects which they desire to comment on while at the same time entertaining
an audience.

Bibliography
[1] Aristotle, Stephen Halliwell, W. Hamilton Fyfe, D. A. Russell, Doreen Innes, Demetrius, Longinus,
and
Demetrius. Poetics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1995. Print.

[2] "Farce." Princeton University. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec. 2014.

[3] Frye, Northrop. Anatomy of Criticism. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.

[4] Marteinson, Peter G. On the Problem of the Comic: A Philosophical Study on the Origins of
Laughter. New York: LEGAS, 2006. Print.

[5] Wilson, Edwin. The Theater Experience. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1976. Print.

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