May the Farce Be With You

It seems a long way from Moliere to Ray Cooney. There are immense distances between the worlds of Aristophanes, Plautus, Georges Feydeau, Ben Travers, Joe Orton and Basil Fawlty. But as one of the oldest genres in the history of the theatre, farce bridges the gaps by generating gales of helpless belly laughter across the generations.

Inspired by John Mortimer’s observation that farce is 'tragedy played at a thousand revolutions a minute', theatre critic Roger Foss embarks on a lightning tour...