How much do you really know about these freaks of journalism? Our own theater critic reveals all!

by Adrienne Martini

No one likes a critic.

Largely, critics are viewed as the killjoys, the tomato lobbers, the heartless shrews who dare point out faults in an artist's creation, who suck the soul out of a work to feed their own minuscule egos. They are the bottom feeders of any creative endeavor, universally hated by everyone with whom they come in contact.

After doing a bit of poking about, it turns out that historically criticism is more than lobbing negative comments from the pages of a newspaper, which seems to be a prevalent opinion 'round these parts. Criticism as a form covers a broad spectrum, from relationships between artists, such as the one between playwrights George Bernard Shaw and William Archer, to relationships between artists and audiences, which reached a passionate extreme in the Astor Place Riot of 1849, with 31 people killed because of a standing feud between fans of two different acting styles.

But, at times, it's hard to see how historical examples influence the interactions between critics and artists right now in this city. So, with tongue partially in cheek, here is a brief quiz to test your knowledge of that strange creature, the theatre critic, in the hopes of encouraging a more symbiotic relationship between those who criticize and those who perform.

On to the quiz...