Jakob Ayrer (c. 1543 – March 26, 1605 or in 1625[1]) was a German playwright and author of Fastnachtsspiele (Carnival plays).
He took his material from Greek mythology, Roman fables and German chapbooks and stories; he also translated plays of Shakespeare.
[2] As a dramatist, Ayrer is virtually the successor of Hans Sachs, but he came under the influence of the so-called Englische Komodianten, that is, troupes of English actors, who, at the close of the 16th century and during the 17th, repeatedly visited the Continent, bringing with them the repertory of the Elizabethan theatre.
From those actors Ayrer learned how to enliven his dramas with sensational incidents and spectacular effects, and from them he borrowed the character of the clown.
Ayrer's plays, however, are in spite of his foreign models, hardly more dramatic, in the true sense of the word, than those of Sachs.