Le Garçon et l'aveugle

     Le Garçon et l'Aveugle is the first play that we could call a true farce. It is simple, short, and open to improvisation on the part of the actors. This was the first play that I have read so far that felt like a PLAY and not a recitation of a biblical story. Though it is short, it has a clear dramatic structure, from the meeting, the rising action, and the resolution. The characters are well defined through their actions instead of their words. In the other medieval plays that I have read, text and its didactic qualities were the driving forces of the play, but here, because the text is so short and the action of the play is more physical, the actors take on a role that we would define closer to the modern actor than that of a priest reciting the lines of a mystery play. The action reminds me of the physical comedy of commedia dell'arte, where there are few props, characters are well defined, and the humour comes from the physicality of the lozzi. This physical comedy sets Le Garçon and L'Aveugle  apart from liturgical drama of the time, and shows a glimpse of the farce yet to come in the 14th century.