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The Old Drama and the New: An Essay in Re-Valuation
Hardcover
Literary CriticismTheater HistoryPlays
ISBN13: 9781025872797
Publisher: Tradd Street Press
Published: Feb 14 2026
Pages: 414
Weight: 1.66
Height: 0.94 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English
The Old Drama and the New; An Essay in Re-Valuation is a provocative and comprehensive exploration of the evolution of English theatrical traditions. Written by the influential critic and playwright William Archer, this work serves as a critical survey of British drama from the Elizabethan era through the early twentieth century. Archer challenges the conventional reverence for the Old Drama, arguing that the complexity and intellectual depth of modern realistic playwrights represent a significant advancement in the art form.
Through a series of lectures and essays, Archer examines the structural and thematic shifts in playwriting, analyzing the works of Shakespeare and his contemporaries alongside the emergence of modern masters. He explores the transition from poetic, rhetorical drama to the psychological realism that defined the stage of his time. This volume provides invaluable insight into the development of dramatic technique, stagecraft, and the shifting tastes of audiences over several centuries. The Old Drama and the New; An Essay in Re-Valuation remains an essential text for students of theatre history and literary criticism, offering a bold perspective on the trajectory of Western dramatic literature.
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you may see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
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