ABSTRACT
We begin by exploring the day-by-day experience of Elizabethan schoolboys. The statutes from Shakespeare’s school in Stratford were lost long ago, but statutes from schools in the vicinity and records of textbooks purchased show a uniformity of practice. Thomas Jenkins, who served as headmaster at Stratford’s Latin grammar school while Shakespeare was a student, was himself trained by Richard Mulcaster, one of the most esteemed pedagogues of the time. Mulcaster wrote two books on pedagogy and was known to emphasize performance skills. His students, and the students of many playmaking pedagogues at the time, regularly presented plays to the public and the court.
