There is no essential difference between the material of comedy and tragedy. All depends on the point of view of the dramatist, which, by clever emphasis, he tries to make the point of view of his audience. George Pierce Baker Read Quote
The instinct to impersonate produces the actor; the desire to provide pleasure by impersonations produces the playwright; the desire to provide this pleasure with adequate characterization and dialogue memorable in itself produces dramatic literature. George Pierce Baker Read Quote
Rare is the human being, immature or mature, who has never felt an impulse to pretend he is some one or something else. George Pierce Baker Read Quote
Out of the past come the standards for judging the present; standards in turn to be shaped by the practice of present-day dramatists into broader standards for the next generation. George Pierce Baker Read Quote
No drama, however great, is entirely independent of the stage on which it is given. George Pierce Baker Read Quote
In the best farce today we start with some absurd premise as to character or situation, but if the premises be once granted we move logically enough to the ending. George Pierce Baker Read Quote
In reading plays, however, it should always be remembered that any play, however great, loses much when not seen in action. George Pierce Baker Read Quote
Drama read to oneself is never drama at its best, and is not even drama as it should be. George Pierce Baker Read Quote
In all the great periods of the drama perfect freedom of choice and subject, perfect freedom of individual treatment, and an audience eager to give itself to sympathetic listening, even if instruction be involved, have brought the great results. George Pierce Baker Read Quote
