Other meanings of Black comedy
Theatre
Black Comedy is a one-act farce by the British playwright Peter Shaffer, first performed in 1965. The play is renowned for its central conceit: the stage is plunged into darkness to represent a power failure, while the actors move as if in pitch black, allowing the audience to see the characters' frantic, unseen actions. It is often performed as a double bill with Shaffer's The White Liars.
The play is set in the London flat of Brindsley Miller, a young sculptor, and his fiancée Carol. Brindsley has borrowed expensive antique furniture from his absent neighbor, Harold Gorringe, to impress Carol's wealthy father, Colonel Melkett. The action begins as a fuse blows, plunging the room into darkness. The audience, however, sees the stage fully lit, while the characters grope and stumble as if blind. This inversion of light and dark is the play's signature device, creating a series of comic misunderstandings as characters enter and exit, unaware of each other's presence.
As the farce unfolds, Brindsley must hide the furniture before Harold returns, while also dealing with the unexpected arrival of his former lover, Clea, and a German art dealer, Georg Bamberger, who is interested in his sculptures. The darkness amplifies the chaos, as characters collide, whisper, and fumble for matches, all while the audience enjoys a god's-eye view of the mayhem.
Black Comedy premiered at the National Theatre at the Old Vic in London on 27 July 1965, directed by John Dexter, with a cast including Derek Jacobi as Brindsley and Maggie Smith as Clea. It was paired with Shaffer's The White Liars (originally titled White Lies), and the double bill was an immediate success. The play transferred to Broadway in 1967, where it ran for 377 performances, again directed by Dexter, with Michael Crawford as Brindsley and Lynn Redgrave as Carol.
Critics praised Shaffer's inventive use of the light-dark reversal, which was inspired by a Chinese theatrical convention where darkness is represented by light. The play won the 1967 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for Dexter, and it has remained a staple of repertory and amateur theatre companies ever since.
The play is a classic farce, relying on mistaken identities, rapid entrances and exits, and physical comedy. Shaffer uses the darkness as a metaphor for the characters' moral blindness: Brindsley's deception of Carol and his manipulation of Harold's furniture expose his opportunism and cowardice. The play also satirizes the British class system and the pretensions of the art world, as Brindsley's sculptures are dismissed by the colonel but coveted by the German dealer.
Shaffer's technique of inverting light and dark forces the audience to imagine the characters' experience, creating a unique form of dramatic irony. The play's structure, with its single continuous scene and escalating complications, is a masterclass in comic timing. The ending, in which the lights come back on and the characters are caught in their lies, is both satisfying and morally pointed.
Shaffer's inspiration for Black Comedy came from a production of a Chinese play he saw in London, where the convention of darkness was represented by actors moving cautiously in full light. He adapted this idea to Western farce, creating a unique theatrical experience. The play was originally written as a curtain-raiser for The Royal Hunt of the Sun, but it was later paired with The White Liars.
Notable revivals include a 2012 production at the Roundabout Theatre Company in New York, directed by Scott Ellis, which starred David Hyde Pierce as Harold. The play has also been adapted for television, including a 1972 BBC version. Shaffer's original manuscript, held in the British Library, reveals that he experimented with different titles, including 'The Dark' and 'Lights Out', before settling on Black Comedy.
The play is often performed with The White Liars, but it stands alone as a masterpiece of comic invention.
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