西方戏剧有两个方面未得到国人足够重视，一是源于希腊悲剧以排泄不洁物为前提的“净化型戏剧”与中国文化的深刻差异，二是很多与中国戏剧相似的“同类项”——励志阳光陶冶正面情感的“陶冶型戏剧”。始于古希腊的话剧偏爱演示恶的宣泄与净化，中国戏曲喜欢弘扬善行陶冶性情。近百年来中西文化有所靠近，中国引进话剧改造后仍属精英艺术；西方音乐剧快速发展，面向大众很像传统戏曲。中国的戏剧研究长期被净化型话剧的精英模式主导，应加强研究百姓需要的陶冶型戏剧，包括喜剧、戏曲和音乐剧。

Two important aspects of western theatre have escaped the attention of most Chinese theatre people and scholars. One of them, originated from Greek tragedies full of familial killings, is a preference for the display and purgation of things unclean. This is largely incompatible with Chinese culture, in which theatre, especially Chinese opera, tends to showcase positive role models in uplifting stories. The other ignored aspect is reflected in a huge portion of western theatre that parallels the Chinese preference for moral cultivation and/or entertainment. In China theatre studies has been dominated by western discourse on serious drama, i. e. the theatre of purgation. It is equally important, however, to study the more popular western theatre genres, e. g. musical, comedy, and mystery, especially in terms of their similarities with Chinese opera, largely an epitome of theatre of cultivation.