A fool's play

...Religious drama based on Christian liturgy and stories can be found in Baroque plays, J. de Rotroux's Saint Geneste, Corneille's Polyuct, and two tragedies from the later years of Racine, but they disappeared until the appearance of P. Claudel at the end of the 19th century. In medieval Gothic cities, the performances of great sacred history plays often incorporated other contemporary stage expressions, such as fool plays (sottie, sotie), morality plays (moralité), and farce. In particular, the carnival-like anti-world of fool plays and the satirical comedic nature of farce, along with the influence of Italian and Spanish comedies, formed the undercurrent of 17th century comedy (such as "The Washing Tub," which became the kyogen adaptation of Iizawa Tadashi's "The Washing River" in Japan, and "Mr. Pierre Patrin").

*Some of the terminology explanations that refer to "Aho Geki" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

…キリスト教の典礼や物語にのっとった宗教劇は，バロック時代の劇作や，J.deロトルー《聖ジュネスト》，コルネイユ《ポリュクト》あるいはラシーヌ晩年の2悲劇の例はあるものの，以後は19世紀末のP.クローデルの出現まで姿を消す。　中世ゴシック都市における大聖史劇上演には，同時代の他の舞台表現，すなわち〈阿呆劇(ソティsottie,sotie)〉〈教訓劇(道徳劇)moralité〉〈笑劇farce〉などもプログラムに組み込まれることが多かった。なかでも阿呆劇のカーニバル的反世界と笑劇の風刺的喜劇性は，イタリアやスペインの喜劇の影響とともに，17世紀喜劇の底流を作る(日本で飯沢匡翻案狂言《濯ぎ川》ともなった《洗濯桶》や《ピエール･パトラン先生》等)。…

※「阿呆劇」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典 第２版について | 情報