A. Why not?
Q. Can a comedy occupying two or three hours in representation be entirely trivial?
A. Not to the members of the audience.
Q. And are they serious people?
A. That depends upon the condition of their brains and their capacity of enjoyment.
Q. Does the trivial comedy require a plot?
A. Nothing to speak of.
Q. Or characterisation?
A. No, for the same kind of dialogue will do for all the company—for London ladies, country girls, justices of the peace, doctors of divinity, maid-servants, and confidential butlers.
Q. What sort of dialogue?