Pathelin & Jaquinot’s World For another #FarcesFriday, we're looking at the context for our plays: what was happening in France in the latter half of the 15th century? It's an unfortunate fact of academia that the further along you go, the narrower your world gets. If you compress time, one minute you're deciding you want to study history, maybe European history, for example, and the next minute your entire world is "mystery plays- summer of 1951- England outside of London".

What was going on medieval France when our plays were first performed? How would that history have affected our characters? Take a quick dive into 15th century France for today's #FarcesFriday at hiddentheatre.com, below the announcements. #medievalhistory #medievalfrance #15thcentury

The medieval couples in our #frenchfarces might have agreed- or not! Here is one pope’s opinion; our #FarcesFriday essay suggests not all medieval couples would agree!

This Marriage Is a Farce! Or Is It The Other Way Around? It's #FarcesFriday and our farces' director is taking a look at the marriages that shape our two plays- how they they reflect medieval relationship tensions, and how they both reach beyond the stereotypes of this genre's approach to marriages. It's easy to take it as a given that marriage in the Middle Ages was radically different from the partnerships of today.

On this #FarcesFriday, we're looking at the 2 marriages in our medieval plays- how do they reflect relationships of the times, how do they kick over the stereotypes, and how much of ourselves can we see in them? Read it all at hiddentheatre.com, under the announcements!

Pathelin: The Franchise? Are sequels ever as good as the original? Even medieval people kept hoping so! Today's #FarcesFriday explores the two sequels to Pierre Pathelin and what they tell us about humanity's insatiable desire to see more of characters they love. "But is it as good as the original?" That expression, heard every time a new film in a series, or a remake of some older property, comes out, is so familiar as to be a cliche.

For this week's #FarcesFriday, we're looking at the 2 medieval sequels to "Pierre Pathelin" & asking the question: can the sequel ever really live up to the original? You can find our thoughts at hiddentheatre.com, below the announcements.

A Different Trinity: History, Law & Drama #FridayFarces is back, this time with a consideration of how history, drama, and legal proceedings can interact to instruct as well as entertain us. You'd be hard-pressed to find a person who doesn't enjoy drama in some form or another. For most people these days, it's television and cinema; whether you love television or going to the opera, the point is that the very 

Welcome back to #FarcesFriday! This week we're taking a look at the interplay between history, legal cases, & theatre, both in general & in "Pierre Pathelin" and "The Washtub". You can find this at our website, hiddentheatre.com!

A Taxonomy of Farces (Maybe) Think you know what a farce is? Maybe nobody really knows! This week's #FarcesFriday looks at scholarly debate about what medieval farces are, aren't, and how to tell them from other styles- or not! As humans, we like to label, define, and classify. It's part of how we make sense of our world. This can be problematic, like when we assume people fall into stereotypes rather than seeing them as nuanced individuals, but it can also be extremely useful in making sure that, when we're communicating, we have the same understanding of what we're talking about.

Defining what a medieval French farce is & isn't can be tricky! On this #FarcesFriday at hiddentheatre.com, we're taking a peek at a complex scholarly debate- we'd love to know what you think! How would YOU define a farce?

Director’s Notes: Lost and Found in Translation For this week's #FarcesFriday, our director discusses the process she used to turn medieval French scripts into modern English, and how language takes a role in one of our plays. Let me begin with an admission: I don't speak French. (At least, not yet!) My lack of multilingualism is one of the things in my life that I deeply regret, and I have Opinions about the lack of languages in early education in America that contributed to this.

It's #FarcesFriday! This week, our director talks about the challenging process of translating a play when you can't read the original language... and starting to learn it along the way.

Director’s Notes: Comedy Tonight! It's #FarcesFriday, and our director, Laura-Elizabeth Rice, is back with reflections on choosing to work with medieval French farces, and how we chose our plays. Two memories: I'm six years old, listening to a group of boys sitting around one's school desk. One of them is using a hand under his armpit to make noises that mimic gas, and they're laughing like it's the funniest thing they've ever heard.

Welcome to #FarcesFriday! We're dividing up our week between our 2 current projects, and Friday is for farces. This week we bring you some of our considerations in choosing our pair of funny French plays. We'd love to hear what YOU think is funny- these 2 have something for everyone!