To proceed on any other assumption would
not only be to ignore the all-powerful first-night audience, but to
plunge into a veritable morass of inconsistencies, dubieties and
slovenlinesses.
These considerations, however, have not yet taken us to the heart of the
matter. We have seen that the dramatist has no rational course open to
him but to assume complete ignorance in his audience; but we have also
seen that, as a matter of fact, only one audience will be entirely in
this condition, and that, the more successful the play is, the more
widely will subsequent audiences tend to depart from it. Does it not
follow that interest of plot, interest of curiosity as to coming events,
is at best an evanescent factor in a play's attractiveness--of a certain
importance, no doubt, on the first night, but less and less efficient
the longer the play holds the stage?
In a sense, this is undoubtedly true. We see every day that a mere
story-play--a play which appeals to us solely by reason of the adroit
stimulation and satisfaction of curiosity--very rapidly exhausts its
success.
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