A Declaration of Interdependence. The Interrelationship of Three Dramatic Traditions in Early Modern England

This article shows in detail that, far from being mutually exclusive dramatic traditions, early modern English university drama (normally but not always written in Latin) and the London popular stage enjoyed a frequent and mutually beneficial in­teraction. The fact that they were normally written in different languages posed no insuperable barrier since any man who had completed a grammar school education (or nearly so) would have been capable of reading and learning from university plays. Hence, on the one hand, the plays of Shakespeare and other London playwrights sometimes show signs of influence of academic ones, and plays produced at Oxford and Cambridge not only reflect those of Shakespeare, Ben Jonson and others, but often cater to the same audience expectations, tastes, and relish for current ‘fads.’