Which concealments and disclosures does Archer approve or reject in his chapter 'Keeping a Secret', what does each case lose or gain, and what criteria can be read off the cases?
1912 stage practice, eight cases. Archer rejects whole-play concealment (L'Enigme: clue-hunting is not artistic enjoyment), a secret that disappoints when revealed (Lady Windermere's Fan, as first staged), concealment kept up by making a sensible character act foolishly (The Devil's Disciple act 2), and late reveals that strip the audience of ironic foreknowledge (Her Advocate; La Douloureuse, where 'three words' would have sufficed). He approves a short, careful withholding followed by a casual slip that lets the audience feel the irony (Letty act 1), telling the audience early (The Idyll), and tolerates an undelivered explanation only in light comedy (Whitewashing Julia). Criteria that follow (synthesis): payoff adequacy; whether character ignorance can be kept without audience ignorance; irony gained by telling; span and grading; genre tolerance. Every verdict is Archer's critical opinion of plays he saw or read, partly from memory.
Structured fields
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- [sourced_fact] 1912 stage practice, eight cases. Archer rejects whole-play concealment (L'Enigme: clue-hunting is not artistic enjoyment), a secret that disappoints when revealed (Lady Windermere's Fan, as first staged), concealment kept up by making a sensible character act foolishly (The Devil's Disciple act 2), and late reveals that strip the audience of ironic foreknowledge (Her Advocate; La Douloureuse, where 'three words' would have sufficed). He approves a short, careful withholding followed by a casual slip that lets the audience feel the irony (Letty act 1), telling the audience early (The Idyll), and tolerates an undelivered explanation only in light comedy (Whitewashing Julia). Criteria that follow (synthesis): payoff adequacy; whether character ignorance can be kept without audience ignorance; irony gained by telling; span and grading; genre tolerance. Every verdict is Archer's critical opinion of plays he saw or read, partly from memory. · locator: candidate evidence excerpts source
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