Inspired by the theatrical experiments in the early half of the century and by the horrors of the war, the avant-garde Parisian theatre, "New theatre" or, as the critic Martin Esslin termed it, "Theatre of the Absurd," around the writers Eugène Ionesco, Samuel Beckett, Jean Genet, Arthur Adamov, Fernando Arrabal, refused simple explanations and abandoned traditional characters, plots and staging.
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The impact of his plays, primarily Ubu Roi, was writ large upon both contemporary audiences, and has continued to be a major influence on, among others, Monty Python's Flying Circus and The Young Ones.
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In the 12th century one finds the earliest extant passages in French appearing as refrains inserted into liturgical dramas in Latin, such as a Saint Nicholas (patron saint of the student clercs) play and a Saint Stephen play.
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Farce - a realistic, humorous, and even coarse satire of human failings
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