Academic drama

[1] Other European countries, such as Spain and Italy, adapted classical plays into a mixture of Latin and vernacular dramas.

[2] The intellectual development of dramas in schools, universities, and Inns of Court in Europe allowed the emergence of the great playwrights of the late 16th century.

[7] In producing academic drama, the colleges at Cambridge University were decidedly confined to performing Latin works.

[12] The Inns of Court were where practicing lawyers and law students gathered to eat, socialize, gain legal education, board, and be entertained.

[15] Until the end of the 17th century, these performances typically took the form of masques written by law students at the Inns of Court.

Once the Inns of Court transitioned from masques to plays, the so-called third university served as a cradle for classical English drama.

Eventually, by the early 17th century, writers such as Ben Jonson and William Shakespeare began producing English comedies at the Inns of Court, thus expanding the range of materials performed.

Prominent playwrights whose works were performed as part of the academic drama tradition include Aristophanes, Plautus, Seneca the Younger, and Terence.