Like "The Once and Future King," "The Goshawk" is many kinds of tale — a comedy, a romance, a farce — but, in the end, unmistakably, it is a tragedy.
With its mixture of farce, romance and trenchant social commentary, it has all the elements of his later plays, but in a bumpy, undigested form.
Mamet has written a scathing play about sexual politics, "Oleanna"; the screenplay for a brilliant and (I'd wager) timeless political satire, "Wag the Dog"; and an uproarious courtroom farce, "Romance".
It too draws on popular formulas and makes almost freehand use of slapstick, farce and romance, though, of course, it gives a bit more attention to high tragedy and history.
The new movie, wittily written by Doug Wright and based on his play and directed with great elan by Philip Kaufman, is as antic as de Sade himself, a blend of farce and romance, a portrait of artistic obsession and a plea for humane treatment of the insane.
Several friends, knowing of her interest in the country's literature, recommended that she read his first novel, a blistering critique of Indonesia's bloody past, lightly and variously veiled as a horror story, a farce, a romance, and a B-movie sex romp — but shot through, too, with a strangely touching, lighthearted compassion.
Traditional romances and sex farces were supplanted by comedies of arrested male development, defensive glorifications of the right of boys to be boys, occasionally informed by the serious question of what it might mean to be a man.
Part backstage farce, part melancholic romance, Sarah Ruhl's play, directed by Rebecca Taichman, skewers rehearsal-room reality and amorous illusion.
Some of the most effective passages reflect the point of view of the women doomed to love these literary outlaws -- although at times the transitions between moments of farce and wistful romance can be jarring.
While "Downton Abbey" has become stern and plodding, losing its early wit and irony in favor of melodrama, "Parade's End" is a reliably funny novel that unites farce, tragedy, and romance — it out-soaps a middlebrow soap opera any day.
