There is a large class of playgoers, both in
England and America, which is capable of appreciating work of a high
intellectual order, if only it does not ignore the fundamental
conditions of theatrical presentation. It is an audience of this class
that I have in mind throughout the following pages; and I believe that a
playwright who despises such an audience will do so to the detriment,
not only of his popularity and profits, but of the artistic quality
of his work.
Some people may exclaim: "Why should the dramatist concern himself about
his audience? That may be all very well for the mere journeymen of the
theatre, the hacks who write to an actor-manager's order--not for the
true artist! He has a soul above all such petty considerations. Art, to
him, is simply self-expression. He writes to please himself, and has no
thought of currying favour with an audience, whether intellectual or
idiotic." To this I reply simply that to an artist of this way of
thinking I have nothing to say.
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