Play-Making

by William Archer

To supply one quota of the inside history of the great Abolition war, is the primary object of this work; but scarcely secondary to this object is that of recording incidents characteristic of the Peculiar Institution overthrown in that struggle.

Genres: Writing, Crafts, Theatre

244 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1912

About the author

William Archer was a Scottish writer and theatre critic, based, for most of his career, in London. He was an early advocate of the plays of Henrik Ibsen, and an early friend and supporter of George Bernard Shaw.

In 1878, in accordance with his father's wishes, he moved to London to train as a barrister. He was uninterested in the law, and was by now fascinated with the theatre. He qualified for the bar in 1883, but never practised. He supported himself by working as dramatic critic of The London Figaro, and after he finished his legal studies he moved to The World, where he remained from 1884 to 1906. In London he soon took a prominent literary place and exercised much influence.

Reviews

[Marte · Rating 3 out of 5]

meh. read for class. kinda fun.

[Bobby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even after almost a hundred years, this manual is a treasury of sound, practical advice for beginning playwrights. Some of the plays used as examples are forgotten or obscure now, but there are enough references to classic authors such as Shakespeare, Sophocles, and Moliere for the explanations to be clear. The author was an early translator of Ibsen and a friend of Shaw, so his comments on those then modern, now classic playwrights is invaluable.

[Marko]

I have a serbocroar edition from Beograd.