I used to think that the problem with theatre criticism in Canada was a shortage of competent critics. Part of my reason for thinking this was the frequency with which I found myself disagreeing with the reviews and articles I read in the popular press. But in analyzing the situation of theatre criticism in this country, I have come to the conclusion that the problem is not one of personnel. Rather, the very activity of criticism – not just theatre criticism, but criticism of all the arts – is itself increasingly problematic. Whether individual reviewers are conscious of it or not, criticism has undergone a severe crisis over the past couple of decades, a crisis which is born out of the increasing fragmentation of the world. This fragmentation, inasmuch as it is both a cause and a symptom of the decay of established systems of legitimation, contributes to what has become the contemporary buzz-word: postmodernism. How is the theatre critic to write in a postmodern culture? While the question may seem trivial to some, for me it summarizes the very serious crisis facing criticism today.