Setting

The Critic takes place in two locations: Dangle's house and the theater where Puff's play is rehearsed; each setting reflects the values and assumptions of its principal character.

Dangle's house is a place where actors, singers, writers, and other "lackeys of literature" gather to solicit his approval and patronage. Dangle is a self-professed lover of the theater and his home reflects this; for while there, he does not engage in any conversation that is not about the theater. When reading the newspapers, for example, he dismisses the threat of a possible war in order to read about "theatrical politics." In fact, Dangle's love of theater is so great and so ingrained in him that he often "performs" in his drawing room as if he were on stage. He finds Sir Fretful's latest play atrocious yet calls it "finished and most admirable" once he hears Fretful entering the room...