Unread postby suec » Fri Jul 08, 2005 6:29 pm
I think that the success criteria are more varied in a way for drama than for comedy, and that the success or not of a comedy is more obvious. Either it works, or it doesn't, because if a moment is designed to get a laugh, and it doesn't, then it is immediately obvious. I think it is quite a specialised thing, hitting audiences's funny bones. Viewers will be amused by different types of comedy too, such as slapstick, or farce, or irony. I think you are either amused by those things, or you are not, so with a comedy, there is so much that is dependent on the audience. In a theatre, a live performance will vary from night to night and for comedies, sometimes a line will be funny in one performance, and not in another. It is very obvious to the actors and it has to be built into the performance, such as pausing to allow for the laughs. Is the variation something to do with the performance, such as an actor's timing, or is it something the audience brings with them? Probably both.
I think good comedy often depends on truth. A kind of truth, anyway. The audience need to recognise and relate to it. To pick up on Theresa's point, we do have to connect to the actor and empathise with him. Quite often something is amusing because we recognise that the character is in a situation that we wouldn't want to be in ourselves, or we remember that we already have been, and know all too well what it feels like to be there. The laughter is sympathetic rather than cruel. But you do have to care about the character who is in that situation.
My brain has totally seized up now. I need to go and do some more thinking!
"Luck... inspiration... both only really happen to you when you empty your heart of ambition, purpose, and plan; when you give yourself, completely, to the golden, fate-filled moment."