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The Author's Farce

Nominator(s): Ottava Rima (talk) and NocturneNoir (talk) 01:18, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

• Featured article candidates/The Author's Farce/archive1
• Featured article candidates/The Author's Farce/archive2
• Featured article candidates/The Author's Farce/archive3

I and NocturneNoir present the first FAC nomination of a long and major project dealing with the plays of Henry Fielding. Though previously neglected, the current work presents a thorough background into the creation, plot, themes, and critical heritage of The Author's Farce, one of Fielding's greatest plays. It has been a pleasure to work on this project and I am happy to present this nominee. Ottava Rima (talk) 01:18, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

• Image review (Support on image copyright):
  • File:Colley Cibber as Lord Foppington in The Relapse by John Vanbrugh engraving.jpg needs a real source; not just "web".
  • Other image is fine.
• NW (Talk) 20:28, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

The image is in the National Portrait Gallery. I linked to their new site which has an uncropped and untouched version (perhaps when they redid the images). The old link would not exist anymore, as it most likely deprecated. Ottava Rima (talk) 22:06, 16 October 2009 (UTC)

• Comments - a few comments from the lead:

• "about the Goddess Nonsense choosing a husband..." This is what Tony1 calls noun+ing. Better: "about the Goddess Nonsense's choice of a husband" or something similar.
• "Through the use of a play within a play,.." - perhaps link to "play within a play" since it is a dramatic device. Also, it might help to move this into the first paragraph, as I had to puzzle for a while over "Although rejected by one theatre, the play is eventually put on at another during the third act", as at first I thought perhaps it was meant that happened in reality before I read on and it became clearer.
• "Additionally, having the Little Theatre..." - personally, I think the "additionally" can be dropped as unnecessary, and it weakens the impact of the second sentence by making its contents seem less important effects.

—mattisse (Talk) 15:55, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

I made three changes. See if this clarifies the second point: "Although rejected by one theatre, the play becomes a play within a play when it is eventually put on at another theatre during the third act." Ottava Rima (talk) 16:37, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

Yes. During the middle of the third act of another play. Or was it tacked on at the end? —mattisse (Talk) 17:09, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

See if this helps: Reality - Fielding had a play that was rejected. The Author's Farce uses that as part of the plot. Fiction - Luckless has a play that was rejected called The Pleasures of the Town. Act 1 - writing the play. Act 2 - play is rejected. Act 3 - play is put on within The Author's Farce. The third Act is about Luckless putting on The Pleasures of the Town, which is interrupted at the end with word that he is really king of some distant land. Ottava Rima (talk) 17:56, 17 October 2009 (UTC)

• Support, excellent article. Ironholds (talk) 01:38, 19 October 2009 (UTC)
• MoS comment (the type people complain about on the FAC talk page): in the cast section, hyphens should be spaced endashes per WP:DASH. Mm40 (talk) 15:19, 24 October 2009 (UTC)
  • I've attempted a fix; let me know if this was incorrect. (I'll admit to knowing nothing about MOS:DASH right now; it confuses me immensely...) ɳOCTURNEɳOIR _{talk // contribs} 16:01, 24 October 2009 (UTC)
    • Yes, it's now correct. Thanks, Mm40 (talk) 16:25, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

• Comments - sources look okay, links checked out with the link checker tool. (I took the liberty of putting your OCLC numbers in the OCLC template and adding two missing periods.) Ealdgyth - Talk 16:58, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

I didn't even know we had an OCLC template now. Blah. I should pay more attention to these things. Ottava Rima (talk) 17:12, 25 October 2009 (UTC)

• Support - with comments. Looks great. ceranthor 22:06, 30 October 2009 (UTC)
• However, he is given horrible advice and the play is rejected by the local theatre. - advice from whom?

I think I clarified - all of the characters offer advice. Ottava Rima (talk) 22:13, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

• ...Signore Opera, among others. Eventually, she chooses Signor Opera, a foreign, castrato opera singer, as her favourite, after he sings an aria about money. In response, Mrs. Novel claims that she loved Signior Opera and died giving birth to his child. - different spellings?

Hahahahaha. I fixed it. :) Ottava Rima (talk) 22:13, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

• The character Signior Opera, the image of the favoured castrato singer within the puppet show, mocks the foreigners that would perform as singers along with the audiences that accepted them. - again, different spelling?

It should all be Signior right now. :) Ottava Rima (talk) 22:13, 30 October 2009 (UTC)

• I hated it. Gurch (talk) 03:15, 31 October 2009 (UTC)
• Support: 2c Fifelfoo (talk) 07:08, 3 November 2009 (UTC)

Noting that two of the supports here are only partial (images and 2c). SandyGeorgia (Talk) 18:46, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

And the oppose is amusing. Don't forget that. :) Ottava Rima (talk) 19:53, 8 November 2009 (UTC)

Comment Fowler&fowler«Talk» 22:44, 11 November 2009 (UTC) I'm afraid the article falls far short of meeting criterion 1(a). Here are some examples:

Lead paragraph

• (Sentence 1:) "The play was Fielding's first success and was written as a response to Theatre Royal, Drury Lane's rejection of his previous works."
  • The response (as reaction) is not to the rejection, but rather to the shame (or humiliation or pain) of rejection. Please rephrase (as long as it is consistent with sources.) This, however, is meaningless.
  • Besides, one earlier play, Love in Several Masques, if its link is accurate, was in fact performed in Theatre Royal. Please amend statement accordingly.
  • Needs to be "Drury Lane's rejections of (some of) his previous works."

• (Sentence 2:) "The first and second acts describe Harry Luckless's attempts at romance and writing plays to make money."
  • (Incorrect and ambivalent.) If "romance" is meant in the sense of love, the sentence should read "The first and second acts describe Harry Luckless's attempts at finding romance and writing plays,"
  • or, if by "romance," a literary work is meant, "The first and second acts describe Harry Luckless's attempts at writing (both) romances and plays."
  • or, if by "romance," lovemaking is implied, then say, "The first and second acts describe Harry Luckless's attempts at romance and at writing plays," though this last version is too ambiguous for an encyclopedia.
  • "to make money" is ambivalent and vague. Not clear if it applies to romance, to writing plays, or to both. Please make more precise: as in "writing plays to earn a livelihood," "writing plays to make quick money," etc. If, for example, the former is meant, please say, "... attempts both at romance and at writing plays to earn a livelihood."
• (Sentence 3:) "In the second act, he finishes a puppet theatre play titled "The Pleasures of the Town" about the Goddess Nonsense's choice of a husband from allegorical representatives of common theatre and literary genres.
  • I am assuming by "finishes" you mean "completes writing." Why not simply say, "In the second act, he writes a puppet theater play ...?" Or was the puppet theater play begun in the first act? (If so, why weren't we told.)
• "(Still sentence 3:) the Goddess Nonsense's choice of the husband from allegorical representatives of common theatre and literary genres."
  • "choice of the husband?" You mean "... of a husband."
  • In any case, it most likely is not about the choice, but rather about the selection. In other words, say, "... about Goddess Nonsense's selection of a husband ..."
  • Too much jargon in the sentence.
  • To improve the prose, the sentence is best broken up, as in: "In the second act, the protagonist writes a puppet theater play parodying some common literary and theater genres. Titled, "The Pleasures of the Town," the play centres on the Goddess Nonsense's selection of a ..."
• (Sentence 4:) "Although rejected by one theatre, the play becomes a play within a play when it is eventually put on at another theatre during the third act."
  • I doubt you mean "Although." Please say, "After being rejected by one theatre, the play becomes ..."
  • There is no need for "eventually" if it is staged in the very next act.
• (Sentence 5:) "Instead of using puppets, the puppet characters are portrayed by actual actors, and the play ends with a merging of the play's and the puppet show's realities."
  • "Instead of using puppets" is both wrong and redundant. Say simply, "The puppet characters are now portrayed by human actors ..."
• (Still sentence 5:) "play ends with a merging of the play's and the puppet show's realities."
  • What does this mean? Please clarify.

These are just the five sentences of the lead paragraph. I'm sorry the prose needs drastic reworking. Fowler&fowler«Talk» 22:44, 11 November 2009 (UTC)

Note - per usual, the above statements will be ignored as inappropriate. Ottava Rima (talk) 22:51, 11 November 2009 (UTC)