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According to Baker (1919, Chapter X), should a dramatist write for the public, for himself, or for an ideal audience?

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1919 stage practice (Baker's textbook, Chapter X). Baker answers 'both, in order, with a fixed core': write the play first so that it is clear, convincing and moving to you; then, before it is tried on the stage, revise it in a detached way for the same interest and emotion in the public. He calls the dramatist 'a sort of public speaker', rejects 'truckling' (dropping your conception for what the unthinking public is thought to want) and rejects care-free work (the audience's likes, interests, probable knowledge and approach must be weighed). Presentation may flex; the play's central human and artistic purposes may not. He has no 'ideal audience' concept: his audience is 'the general public' with two stated tendencies (people over ideas, action over characterization), and he allows that special audiences can be built.

1919 stage practice (Baker's textbook, Chapter X). Baker answers 'both, in order, with a fixed core': write the play first so that it is clear, convincing and moving to you; then, before it is tried on the stage, revise it in a detached way for the same interest and emotion in the public. He calls the dramatist 'a sort of public speaker', rejects 'truckling' (dropping your conception for what the unthinking public is thought to want) and rejects care-free work (the audience's likes, interests, probable knowledge and approach must be weighed). Presentation may flex; the play's central human and artistic purposes may not. He has no 'ideal audience' concept: his audience is 'the general public' with two stated tendencies (people over ideas, action over characterization), and he allows that special audiences can be built. Curator qualifications: Writes for self then public in order; no 'ideal audience' concept (0 hits). Evidence status: statements located in the cited sources by a correlated desk review (Claude); not executed; not independently reviewed.
Structured fields
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    {
      "url": "https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/36580/pg36580.txt",
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Evidence claims

  • [sourced_fact] 1919 stage practice (Baker's textbook, Chapter X). Baker answers 'both, in order, with a fixed core': write the play first so that it is clear, convincing and moving to you; then, before it is tried on the stage, revise it in a detached way for the same interest and emotion in the public. He calls the dramatist 'a sort of public speaker', rejects 'truckling' (dropping your conception for what the unthinking public is thought to want) and rejects care-free work (the audience's likes, interests, probable knowledge and approach must be weighed). Presentation may flex; the play's central human and artistic purposes may not. He has no 'ideal audience' concept: his audience is 'the general public' with two stated tendencies (people over ideas, action over characterization), and he allows that special audiences can be built. · locator: candidate evidence excerpts source

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