Here is the merest skimming of the themes of the two-acts presented in one large city during one week:
Flirting: done in a burlesque way. Our own example, "The Art of
Flirtation."
Quarrelsome musicians in search of a certain street. One is always wrong. Gags all on this routine subject.
Getting a job: "sucker" theme. One character an Italian politician, the other an Italian laborer.
Wives: one man is boss at home, the other is henpecked. Furthermore, the wives don't agree. Quarrel theme.
Old times: two old schoolmates meet in the city. One a "fly guy," the other a simple, quiet country fellow. "Fool" theme, in the old days and the present.
Note the variety of subjects treated. If my memory serves me correctly, everyone of these acts had a quarrel either as its entire subject, or the usual quarrels developed frequently in the routine. These quarrels, as in most two-acts, were fundamental to much of their humor. But no two of the acts had the same subject theme.
It would seem, then, that in thinking out the two-act, the author would do well to avoid every theme that has been used—if such a thing is humanly possible, where everything seems to have been done—and to attempt, at least, to bring to his two-act a new subject theme.
But if this is impossible, the writer should bring to the old theme a new treatment. Indeed, a new treatment with all its charm of novelty will make any old theme seem new. One of the standard recipes for success in any line of endeavor is: "Find out what somebody else has done, and then do that thing—better." And one of the ways of making an old theme appear new, is to invest it with the different personalities of brand new characters.