Studying Shakespeares Contemporaries is an accessible guide to non-Shakespearian English drama of the late 16th and early 17th centuries. This volume brings the masterworks of playwrights such as Kyd, Marlowe, Jonson, Webster, and Middleton to the forefront of Renaissance drama, establishing what makes them important in their own right, and often exploring their similarities to and differences from the plays of Shakespeare. The plays chosen for this text represent the most widely taught and read non-Shakespearian works from the English Renaissance. The book describes the conditions under which plays were commissioned, written, licensed, staged, and published, presenting a thorough overview of the profession. Plays are organized by theme and explored individually, creating a text that can be read as a complete overview or used as an indexed reference resource.