his unintelligence.]

[Footnote 5: In all the arts, however, the very idea of craftsmanship
implies some sort of external percipient, or, in other words, some sort
of an audience. In point of sheer self-expression, a child's scrabblings
with a box of crayons may deserve to rank with the most masterly canvas
of Velasquez or Vermeer. The real difference between the dramatist and
other artists, is that they can be _their own audience_, in a sense in
which he cannot.]

[Footnote 6: Let me guard against the possibility that this might be
interpreted as a sneer at _The Dynasts_--a great work by a great poet.]




_CHAPTER II_

THE CHOICE OF A THEME


The first step towards writing a play is manifestly to choose a theme.

Even this simple statement, however, requires careful examination before
we can grasp its full import. What, in the first place, do we mean by a
"theme"? And, secondly, in what sense can we, or ought we to,
"choose" one?

"Theme" may mean either of two things: either the subject of a play, or
its story. The former is, perhaps, its proper or more convenient sense.