Often when acting companies came to town they would perform in the enclosed courtyard of the local inn. Here we see such a company setting up its portable stage. The space provided limited access, so the actors could collect an entry fee. The enclosure helped with acoustics, and the balconies allowed more people to see the performance. The early companies toured like this for years. It is no coincidence that the first permanent theater buildings bore a resemblance to the courtyards of country inns.

While the economics and logistics of the theater were being established, the nature of the plays that were performed was undergoing a change. Several generations of schoolboys from the literate upper classes learned Latin in school by reciting from plays written 1500 years earlier for the Roman theater. In effect these students were programmed to enjoy a new kind of play. From the Roman playwright Seneca they learned about stories of bloody revenge where the ghost of the victim appeared to demand revenge and the tragic hero was often driven mad (or pretended to be mad) with grief. Several of Shakespeare's tragedies, including Titus Andronicus, Richard III and Hamlet, owe a lot to the plays of Seneca. From the playwright Plautus schoolboys learned about comedy based on mistaken identity through disguise and lovers outwitting their guardians in order to get married. Many of Shakespeare's comedies follow the same formula.

Besides expanding the potential for plays to deal with subjects beyond the Bible or lives of the saints that we saw in miracle and mystery plays, Elizabethan education also required the display of knowledge of the classical world. Shakespeare's plays all contain references to the mythological figures and events literate people would be expected to know. This appeal to the educated class was obviously part of Shakespeare's success as a playwright.