The Playhouse to be Let is a Restoration stage play, a dramatic anthology of short pieces by Sir William Davenant that was acted in August 1663 at the theatre at Lincoln's Inn Fields, and first published in the 1673 collected edition of Davenant's works.
[1] Regarding this anthology, the early critic Gerard Langbaine wrote, "I know not under what Species to place this Play, it consisting of several Pieces of different Kinds handsomely tackt together...."[2] Davenant exploited the standard five-Act structure of drama in his era to link five separate short plays, both newly written and previously existent: The material in Act I provides a detailed view of a theatre manager interacting with actors, that throws light upon the theatrical conditions of Davenant's day.
French scholar André de Mandach attributed the rest of the work to Colonel Henry Howard.
The playlet in Act V of The Playhouse to Be Let has been called "the earliest burlesque dramatic piece in the English language.
"[5] Davenant's comedy had a direct influence on The Rehearsal, the famous 1671 satire by the Duke of Buckingham and his collaborators.