I’ll admit, I’m rarely a fan of dark comedies. There are exceptions… one might propose that my favourite novel of all time, “Good Omens” by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, is a pretty dark comedy in a lot of ways. But overall, I like my genres to be more pure. I want my comedies to be funny, my tragedies to be dark and bleak, and my science fiction to have lasers and starships and all that glorious stuff.
We’re covering a couple Medieval plays in my British Literature course, and one of them is “The York Cruxifixion” play, which is a dark comedy in many ways. The play focuses on four Soldiers (one might assume Romans, due to their work, location, and the subject matter) who are affixing Christ to the cross. It’s… not really “comedic”, but they are sort of bumbling idiots the whole time, and there is a tension between the ridiculousness of how they do their jobs and the horror of what they are actually doing.
It was an interesting (and thankfully short) read, and I can understand to some extent what the playwright was going for. Specifically, there is a part where they are attempting to fit Jesus onto the cross and they find that they measured incorrectly: here is a subtle nod to the fact that ‘one can never truly measure God, who will always be larger than your measurements.’
It was a neat read, but not subject matter I feel a particular attachment to. That stated, it was also not the worst thing I’ve read this semester, so I guess we can be thankful for that.
Right! I’m off to finish up an assignment (just a touch of editing), and then write! Going to write all the words today! And then on Sunday… I start my winter vacation! Won’t be much of a vacation this year, since we’re obviously still stuck at home, but that’s okay… just having the mental space of not having to go into my other-job and focusing on my writing will be glorious.
Hope everyone out there is staying safe and healthy!