The Critic As Playwright: A Study Of Stark Young's The Saint

Abstract

PLAYWRIGHTS HAVE OFTEN TAUNTED THEIR CRITICS by declaring that no man is fit to judge what he himself has never been able to create. The critics have either ignored the challenge or have defended themselves by arguing that criticism and playwriting are two quite distinct activities and that each has its own proper sphere of operation. But the late Stark Young believed that "it is a safe method in criticism to ask to see results, to see what are the fruits of any p0- sition a critic may take himself." And in The Saint, a four-act drama produced by the Provincetown Players in 1924, he boldly put this proposition to the test. He carefully built the play according to what he believed were the fundamental precepts of the theatrical art.