# The Theory of the Modern Stage

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- Book: [The Theory of the Modern Stage](https://www.bookquiver.com/eric-bentley/the-theory-of-the-modern-stage) ([The Theory of the Modern Stage.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/eric-bentley/the-theory-of-the-modern-stage.md))
- Authors: [Eric Bentley](https://www.bookquiver.com/eric-bentley)
- Publisher: penguin_classics
- ISBN: 978-01-4118-918-5
- Pages: 512
- Published: 2008-01-31
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: Softcover

## Description

In The Theory of the Modern Stage , leading drama critic, Eric Bentley, brings together landmark writings by dramatists, directors and thinkers who have had a profound effect on the theatre since the mid nineteenth century, from Adolphe Appia to Émile Zola. Here, Antonin Artaud sets out a manifesto for a Theatre of Cruelty, Bertolt Brecht discusses the tension between entertainment and instruction in experimental drama and Bernard Shaw defends himself as a realist, while W. B. Yeats describes the creation of a People’s Theatre. The ideas of theatre’s great makers are revealed by their best expositors, as Eric Bentley writes about Stanislavsky belief in the importance of emotional memory when creating a dramatic role and Arthur Symons considers Richard Wagner and the relationship between genius, art and nature.