The collection includes fundamental works by B. O. Kostelants (1912–1999) on the theory of drama. First of all, these are two editions of lectures “Drama and Action” (1976, 1994), in which the author reveals the positive that in the philosophical theory of drama has retained its significance for the present, giving a new understanding not only to the dramaturgy of the distant past, but also of the 19th and 20th centuries . In this edition, the lectures are published taking into account the author's corrections, restored from manuscripts and author's copies. The developed theory of drama is brilliantly applied by the author in the analysis of “Oedipus the King” by Sophocles and “The Dowry” by Ostrovsky, included in this publication. The appendix publishes for the first time a summary of Vs.'s lecture. Meyerhold about Pushkin, made by Kostelants in 1935.