The Critic (New Mermaids)

The Critic was Sheridan's response to a very specific political and

theatrical situation. In the summer of 1779, a Franco-Spanish invasion

seemed imminent and patriotic fervour superseded party divisions and

personal animosities. The Critic satirises the panic of the summer in

the form of the comically misconceived tragedy 'The Spanish Armada'

that is in rehearsal in the second and third acts, but The Critic ends

with genuine patriotic feeling. This edition traces both the political

and the theatrical objects of Sheridan's satire and discusses its

reliance (and improvement) on earlier meta-theatrical burlesques like

The Duke of Buckingham's Restoration romp The Rehearsal.