Criticism means assessing an object with its good and bad sides, and is used mostly for stating the bad and missing sides of an object today. The literary criticism examines and evaluates the literary works in the scope of certain criteria or certain methods. To do this, it acts in two ways. The first one mentions the beauties, superiorities, successful sides of the object; and the second one mentions the weaknesses of the same work, shows the missing points and makes judgments. The purpose of this study is revealing how the theatre criticism started in the Western Literature, and how it proceeded until today. In the study which was formed with the literature scanning method, firstly, the “criticism” concept is introduced. The forms and changes of the term “criticism” in the Western Literature, the true nature of the literary criticism, and the development of criticism in the western literature are emphasized. In the following section of the study, the development of the theatrical criticism from its emergence in the Western literature and its journey until today has been explained. In the study, it has been observed that the first institutional viewpoints on theatre belong to the Ancient Greek Era. The Poetics of Aristotle is accepted as the starting point of the Western Theatre Theory. The concepts and debates used in the Poetics influenced the future theatre theories especially the theories in the Western Theatre in an important way. From the Ancient Greek until today, various viewpoints have emerged on theatre depending on the changing time, social developments and understandings. The focal point of these viewpoints consists of the author, the work, the reader, the society. The criticism will occur as directed towards the outer world, the artist, the reader and the work.

Anahtar Kelimeler
Western literature, theatre, criticism.