Critic (New Mermaid Series) - Softcover

Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0393900584 ISBN 13: 9780393900583

Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc, 1993

Synopsis

New Mermaids are modernized and fully-annotated editions of classic English plays. Each volume includes:

The playtext, in modern spelling, edited to the highest bibliographical and textual standards
Textual notes recording significant changes to the copytext and variant readings
Glossing notes explaining obscure words and word-play
Critical, contextual and staging notes
Photographs of productions where applicable
A full introduction which provides a critical account of the play, the staging conventions of the time and recent stage history; discusses authorship, date, sources and the text; and gives guidance for further reading.

Edited and updated by leading scholars and printed in a clear, easy-to-use format, New Mermaids offer invaluable guidance for actor, student, and theatre-goer alike.

About this title

Review:

(in full The Critic, or a Tragedy Rehearsed) Burlesque drama in three acts by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, produced in 1779 and published in 1781. A delightful satire on stage conventions, The Critic has always been thought much funnier than its model, The Rehearsal (1671) by George Villiers. It is the story of Puff, a literary public-relations man who has written a preposterous historical melodrama that embodies all the worst features of conventional verse dramas--among them bloated emotions, contrived plots, and absurd madness scenes. The critics of the title include the empty and pretentious poet Sir Fretful Plagiary and the petty, malicious critics Sneer and Dangle. -- The Merriam-Webster Encylopedia of Literature

About this edition

• Publisher: W W Norton & Co Inc
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0393900584
• ISBN 13: 9780393900583
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 85
• Editor: David Crane