Shakespeare and His Contemporaries

William Shakespeare is one of the most famous, most commonly studied, and most frequently performed playwrights of the English Renaissance era. His picture is instantly recognizable and he dominates Elizabethan and early Jacobean drama. However, Shakespeare was by no means the only successful playwright of his time. He was simultaneously in competition and in collaboration with men such as John Fletcher, Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, John Webster, and Thomas Dekker. The popularity of the theatre, combined with the prolific output of these playwrights, produced a ‘golden age of drama’ that is responsible for some of the greatest plays in English drama. And the relationship between Shakespeare and his contemporaries has sparked speculation and rumors of legendary proportions.

Key Dates & Events

• 1564 - Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare were both born.
• 1589 - Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy was first performed.
• 1593 - Christopher Marlowe was reportedly murdered...or was he?
• 1598 - Ben Jonson’s Every Man In His Humour was performed by the Lord Chamberlain’s Men.
• 1623 - The First Folio of Shakespeare’s Plays was published, with a preface written by Ben Jonson.