Drama criticism is the comparison, analysis, interpretation, and/or evaluation of dramatic works.
Various reference works describe literary criticism as essentially an opinion, supported by evidence, relating to theme, style, setting, historical context, or political context.
Although criticism may include some of the following elements in order to support an idea, criticism is NOT a plot summary, an author's biography, simply finding fault with the work.
Academic criticism should not be confused with a simple review of a play or performance. A review generally focuses only on the performance's enjoyability.
Researching, reading, and writing works of criticism will help you to make better sense of the work, form judgments, study ideas from different points of view, and determine on an individual level whether a literary work is worth reading or the performance worth seeing.
See also our Theatre Databases List.
Explore historical and recent journals, books and images in the arts, humanities, and social sciences, with some natural science coverage. Coverage: varies - historical up to 1-5 years from current date, contains primary sources. Full text.
Explore an authoritative source of literary criticism, summarizing authors' lives and works and including excerpts from scholarly articles. IMPORTANT NOTE: Because this source is an encyclopedic work, it should NEVER be directly cited. Always look up the original source of the excerpted and reprinted articles. Coverage: varies. Mostly full text.
Access national and international newspapers, plus television and radio news transcripts, including: ABC News (American Broadcasting Company), ABC (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), CBS News, CNBC, CNN, CNN International, FOX News, MSNBC, National Public Radio, and PBS. Includes articles from the Carlisle, PA Sentinel. Coverage: late 20th century to present. Full text.