Writers and playwrights working in the same era as Shakespeare included Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Middleton, John Webster, Ben Jonson and Thomas Dekker.

Competition between these Elizabethan playwrights, as well as the popularity of theatre, led to a 'golden age of drama' that produced some of the most important works in English literature. Many of those plays, including Doctor Faustus, Volpone, and The White Devil, have been performed at the RSC, alongside the works of Shakespeare.