From comic mastermind Jeffrey Hatcher comes a fresh take on Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s 18th-century romp THE CRITIC, a whirlwind comedy about bad theatre, worse playwrights…and, worst of all, the critics. The meta-theatrical frenzy builds throughout, from wacky antics and quick changes to an operatic burlesque as the company jumps from role to role. Experience a madcap night of life in the theatre with this classic behind-the-scenes comedy.

What will happen to the theater when there are no more critics? With the decline of print media and the rise of online journalism, theater critics are facing hard times. As their influence fades, will the industry they cover be adversely affected or can bloggers and message boards fill the void? Can a new economic model be created for theater criticism? How can critics lucky enough to still have jobs stay relevant in the age of social media? Speaking of which, what does a theater critic really do, and how do you become one? In this book, Matt Windman, a theater critic himself, interviews more than 50 critics from New York and around the country, including Ben Brantley, Charles Isherwood, John Lahr, Terry Teachout, Linda Winer, Chris Jones, David Cote, John Simon and Peter Filichia. They discuss their long careers and the nightly process of evaluating plays and musicals, and offer their thoughts on the future of the profession.

What do you do if you find yourself weeping in the stalls? How should you react to Jude Law's trousers or David Tennant's hair? Are you prepared to receive toilet paper in the post? What if the show you just damned turns out to be a classic? If you gave it a five-star rave will anyone believe you? Drawing on his long years of experience as a national newspaper critic, Mark Fisher answers such questions with candour, wit and insight. Learning lessons from history's leading critics and taking examples from around the world, he gives practical advice about how to celebrate, analyse and discuss this most ephemeral of art forms - and how to make your writing come alive as you do so. Today, more people than ever are writing about theatre, but whether you're blogging, tweeting or writing an academic essay, your challenges as a critic remain the same: how to capture a performance in words, how to express your opinions and how to keep the reader entertained. This inspirational book shows you the way to do it. Foreword by Chris Jones, Chief theater critic, Chicago Tribune

A collection of some of the nastiest and funniest reviews and comments on plays, playwrights and actors ever to see print. A book that no theatre lover can put down. Stage and screen actress Diana Rigg has been playing leading roles since the early 1960s. She is probably best known to the general public for her role in thee television show The Avengers.

JOHN SIMON ON THEATRE: CRITICISM 1974-2003

'You have discovered a perishable treasure, and it is imperative to share it with other people before it fades... You have only one chance to get it right, while the impression is still fresh...' If critics often disagree among themselves over the merits of a given work, this is nothing compared to the wider argument about what the critic's role should be - Objective judge? Consumer guide? Provocateur? - and whether or not those practising criticism are living up to their duty to the 'perishable treasures' on which they pronounce. In Theatre Criticism, first published in 1992, Irving Wardle sets out to define the credentials and aims of this vexed profession. Tracing its origins to Dryden and the Grub Street writers of Georgian London, Wardle goes on to examine the prejudices, questions and practices of modern reviewing, drawing on three decades' worth of his own experience.

Set in a Bronx Catholic school in 1964, a nun is faced with uncertainty as she has grave concerns for a male colleague.