The Theory of the Theatre

The Theory of the Theatre

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Title: The Theory of the Theatre
Author: Clayton Hamilton
Release Date: October 3, 2004 [EBook #13589]
Language: English
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Uniform with This Volume Studies in Stagecraft
By CLAYTON HAMILTON
Second Printing 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
Period of Pragmatism. The Undramatic Drama. The Value of Stage
Conventions. The Supernatural Drama. The Irish National Theatre. The
Personality of the Playwright. Themes and Stories of the Stage.
Plausibility in Plays. Infirmity of Purpose. Where to Begin a Play.

Continuity of Structure. Rhythm and Tempo. The Plays of Yesteryear.
A New Defense of Melodrama. The Art of the Moving-Picture Play.
The One-Act Play in America. Organizing an Audience. The Function
of Dramatic Criticism.
_$1.50 net_
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
NEW YORK

THE THEORY OF THE THEATRE
AND OTHER PRINCIPLES OF DRAMATIC CRITICISM
BY
CLAYTON HAMILTON
AUTHOR OF "MATERIALS AND METHODS OF FICTION"
NEW YORK
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
_Published April, 1910_

TO
BRANDER MATTHEWS
MENTOR AND FRIEND
WHO FIRST AWAKENED MY CRITICAL INTEREST IN THE
THEORY OF THE THEATRE

PREFACE
Most of the chapters which make up the present volume have already
appeared, in earlier versions, in certain magazines; and to the editors of
The Forum, The North American Review, The Smart Set, and The
Bookman, I am indebted for permission to republish such materials as I
have culled from my contributions to their pages. Though these papers
were written at different times and for different immediate circles of
subscribers, they were all designed from the outset to illustrate certain
steady central principles of dramatic criticism; and, thus collected, they

afford, I think, a consistent exposition of the most important points in
the theory of the theatre. The introductory chapter, entitled _What is a
Play?_, has not, in any form, appeared in print before; and all the other
papers have been diligently revised, and in many passages entirely
rewritten.
C.H.
NEW YORK CITY: 1910.

CONTENTS
THE THEORY OF THE THEATRE

CHAPTER PAGE
I. WHAT IS A PLAY? 3 II. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THEATRE
AUDIENCES 30 III. THE ACTOR AND THE DRAMATIST 59 IV.
STAGE CONVENTIONS IN MODERN TIMES 73 V. ECONOMY
OF ATTENTION IN THEATRICAL PERFORMANCES 95 VI.
EMPHASIS IN THE DRAMA 112 VII. THE FOUR LEADING
TYPES OF DRAMA 127 VIII. THE MODERN SOCIAL DRAMA
133
OTHER PRINCIPLES OF DRAMATIC CRITICISM
I. THE PUBLIC AND THE DRAMATIST 153 II. DRAMATIC ART
AND THE THEATRE BUSINESS 161 III. THE HAPPY ENDING IN
THE THEATRE 169 IV. THE BOUNDARIES OF APPROBATION
175 V. IMITATION AND SUGGESTION IN THE DRAMA 179 VI.
HOLDING THE MIRROR UP TO NATURE 184 VII. BLANK
VERSE ON THE CONTEMPORARY STAGE 193 VIII. DRAMATIC
LITERATURE AND THEATRIC JOURNALISM 199 IX. THE
INTENTION OF PERMANENCE 207 X. THE QUALITY OF NEW
ENDEAVOR 212 XI. THE EFFECT OF PLAYS UPON THE PUBLIC
217 XII. PLEASANT AND UNPLEASANT PLAYS 222 XIII.
THEMES IN THE THEATRE 228 XIV. THE FUNCTION OF
IMAGINATION 233
INDEX 241

THE THEORY OF THE THEATRE

I
WHAT IS A PLAY?
A play is a story devised to be presented by actors on a stage before an
audience.
This plain statement of fact affords an exceedingly simple definition of
the drama,--a definition so simple indeed as to seem at the first glance
easily obvious and therefore scarcely worthy of expression. But if we
examine the statement thoroughly, phrase by phrase, we shall see that it
sums up within itself the entire theory of the theatre, and that from this
primary axiom we may deduce the whole practical philosophy of
dramatic criticism.
It is unnecessary to linger long over an explanation of the word "story."
A story is a representation of a series of events linked together by the
law of cause and effect and marching forward toward a predestined
culmination,--each event exhibiting imagined characters performing
imagined acts in an appropriate imagined setting. This definition
applies, of course, to the epic, the ballad, the novel, the short-story, and
all other forms of narrative art, as well as to the drama.
But the phrase "devised to be presented" distinguishes the drama
sharply from all other forms of narrative. In