The Theory of the Theatre, and Other Principles of Dramatic Criticism

There is an old saying that it takes two to make a bargain or a quarrel; and, similarly, it takes two groups of people to make a play,--those whose minds are active behind the f...

One reason why journalism is a lesser thing than literature is that it subserves the tyranny of timeliness. It narrates the events of the day and discusses the topics of the hou...

In an earlier paragraph, we noticed the way in which the "star system" may be used to advantage by the dramatist to economise the attention of the audience; but it will be obser...

The dramatist, therefore, because he writes for a crowd, writes for a comparatively uncivilised and uncultivated mind, a mind richly human, vehement in approbation, emphatic in...

But with the growth of the Drama of Illusion, produced within a picture-frame proscenium, actors have come to recognise and apply the maxim, "Actions speak louder than words." W...

The great misfortune of this condition of affairs is that the failure of a play as a business proposition cuts off suddenly and finally the dramatist's sole opportunity for publ...

This practical point has been felt emphatically by the very greatest dramatists; and this fact offers, of course, an explanation of the otherwise inexplicable negligence of such...

Thus considered, the modern social drama is seen to be inherently and necessarily the product and the expression of the nineteenth century. Through no other type of drama could...

But the contemporary English-speaking stage furnishes examples just as striking of the influence of the actor on the dramatist. Sir Arthur Wing Pinero's greatest heroine, Paula...

CONTENT: The New Art of Making Plays. The Pictorial Stage. The Decorative Drama. The Drama of Illusion. The Modern Art of Stage Direction. A Plea for a New Type of Play. The Per...

This method of emphasising by suspense gives force to what are known technically as the _scènes à faire_ of a drama. A _scène à faire_--the phrase was devised by Francisque Sarc...

Victor Hugo, in his preface to _Ruy Blas_, has discussed this entire principle from a slightly different point of view. He divides the theatre audience into three classes--the t...

After witnessing the admirable performance of Mrs. Fiske and the members of her skilfully selected company in Henrik Ibsen's dreary and depressing _Rosmersholm_, I went home and...

Suppose that some morning at breakfast you pick up a newspaper and read that a great earthquake has overwhelmed Messina, killing countless thousands and rendering an entire prov...

Lemaître's _The Pardon_ and Lavedan's _Prince D'Aurec_, translated by Barrett H. Clark, with Donnay's _The Other Danger_, translated by Charlotte Tenney David, with an Introduct...