New Mermaids

This play includes an introduction and text with a modern approach and detailed commentary notes. There is also a lively and comprehensively researched account of the play's historical social and theatrical content.

'The Critic: or, a Tragedy Rehearsed' is a political and literary satire, following in the vein of George Villiers' 'The Rehearsal' (1671), which takes jovial aim at the vanities of authors and politicians and at the foibles of the theatre itself. It was first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane (which Sheridan owned and managed) in 1779. The play is Sheridan's response to the threat of a Franco-Spanish invasion in the summer of 1779.

Director Derek Jarman's controversial adaptation of Christopher Marlowe's play portrays the weak-willed monarch as neglecting his kingdom for his commoner male lover.

This text is part of the 'New Mermaids' series of modern spelling, fully-annotated editions of English plays. Each volume includes a critical introduction, biography of the author discussions of dates and sources, textual details, a bibliography and information about the staging of the play.