No doubt conditioned by the pointed use of the rehearsal format in Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author as a vehicle for that playwright's theme of philosophical relativism, I have often conjectured that similar thematic concerns are implicit in almost any play using such a device. Once the artifices of the theatre are laid bare, and the discrepancies between life as it is represented on the stage and life as we know it are brought into focus, the relative truths and realities of each may be measured and evaluated. Although I would not wish to argue that philosophical relativism is a major or even an intentional concern of Sheridan's The Critic, I am convinced that it is an inescapable ingredient, at least for a modern audience.