The Old Drama and the New (1923) is a major contribution of Archer’s matured scholarship. The book contains “with slight additions and retrenchments” the substance of the two courses of lectures he delivered to audiences mainly composed of teachers. The work is an example of principled criticism. Dealing with the essence of drama, Archer observes that the two sources from which drama arose are imitation and passion. By passion he means “the lyrical or rhetorical expression of feeling”. The contrasting basic elements of drama are naturalism or realism and prose, on the one hand, and artificiality and poetry, on the other. Archer’s thesis is that ‘the modern realistic drama is a pure and logical art form. The other elements of primitive drama, the lyrical and the saltatory, have been sloughed off and have taken independent form in music drama, commonly known as opera, and in ballet”. He sees Ibsen’s and Shaw’s work as the culmination of an evolutionary process governing the development of English drama.
From this theoretical position, Archer has presented a critical survey of English drama from the Elizabethan times to the end of the second decade of the present century. His discussion is marked by a close analysis of scene and dialogues as well as dramatic devices. He exposes the weakness of such devices as soliloquy and aside and calls many old reputations into question—those of Webster and Tourneur, for example—excepting, of course, Shakespeare, whose genius is unapproachable to his critical tools.
T.S. Eliot calls The Old Drama and the New a “brilliant and stimulating book”, although he makes penetrating remarks to point out the weaknesses in Archer’s argument. The debate ended prematurely with the death of Archer in 1924, but the issues involved are very much alive today and the controversy has by no means been settled. The failure of poetic drama to strike firm roots and its poor performance upon the stage compel us to give a serious thought to Archer’s views.
Apart from the theoretical insights, the book presents a critical history of English drama marked by a wealth of information and profound statements as regards form and content. Everywhere in the book we find evidence of dramatic competence, independent enquiry and sincerity.

William Archer (1856-1924) was an influential drama critic, who championed the cause of modern drama of ideas and realistic representation. His own dramatic talent and long experience of watching plays enabled him to examine closely the details of form and content and pinpoint the artificialities which according to him, marred the staging of many an older play. He was also responsible for introducing Ibsen to the English stage, although his view of Ibsen cannot be regarded as balanced. His emphasis—as that of Shaw—was on the “social plays” of Ibsen.

• Publisher: Atlantic Publishers & Distributors (P) Ltd
• Publisher Imprint:
• Publication Date: May 25, 1990
• Pages: 404
• ISBN13: 9788171560639
• Item Weight: 440 grams
• Original Price: 400.0 INR
• Edition: N/A
• Binding: Hardcover