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

A concise theoretical treatise that defines a play as a story devised for staged presentation and examines how the dramatist must combine literary, pictorial, musical, and performative arts. It analyzes audience psychology and stagecraft, the actor-dramatist relationship, conventions and economy of attention, and principles of emphasis, rhythm, and continuity. It surveys types of drama, including social and supernatural forms, defends popular modes such as melodrama, and considers emerging forms like the moving-picture play and the one-act. Finally, it addresses the critic's function, plausibility, themes, imagination, and the intention of permanence in dramatic creation.