<< previousnext >>

>THE PHILOSOPHER OF BUTTERBIGGENS Harold Chapin SPREADING THE NEWS Lady Gregory THE BEGGAR AND THE KING Winthrop Parkhurst TIDES George Middleton ILE _Eugene O'Neill_

CAMPBELL OF KILMHOR _J.A. Ferguson_

THE SUN John Galsworthy THE KNAVE OF HEARTS Louise Saunders FAME AND THE POET Lord Dunsany THE CAPTAIN OF THE GATE Beulah Marie Dix GETTYSBURG Percy Mackaye LONESOME-LIKE Harold Brighouse RIDERS TO THE SEA John Millington Synge THE LAND OF HEART'S DESIRE William Butler Yeats RIDING TO LITHEND Gordon Bottomley

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION IN READING THE PLAYS

NOTES ON THE DRAMAS AND THE DRAMATISTS

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PLAYS AND RELATED BOOKS

FOREWORD

We are at present in the midst of a bewildering quantity of play-publication and production. The one-act play in particular, chiefly represented in this volume, appears to be taking the place of that rather squeezed sponge, the short story, in the favor of the reading public. Of course, this tendency has its reaction in schoolrooms. One even hears of high-school classes which attempt to keep up with the entire output of such dramas in English readings. If this is not merely an apologue, it is certainly a horrible example. The bulk of current drama, as of published matter generally, is not worthy the time of the English class. Only what is measurably of rank, in truth and fineness, with the literature which has endured from past times can be defended for use there. And we have too much that is both well fitted to young people's keen interest and enjoyment, and beautifully worthy as well, for time to be wasted upon the third- and fourth-rate.

Obviously, much of the best in modern play-writing has not been included in this volume. Because of copyright complications the works of Mr. Masefield, Mr. Shaw, Mr. Drinkwater, and Sir James Barrie are not here represented. The plays by these writers that

next >>