A play was a dramatic performance.
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William Shakespeare was a famous playwright. The First Doctor assisted him in writing Hamlet between the first the first and second drafts. (PROSE: Byzantium!) In 1599, the Tenth Doctor and Martha Jones saw his play Love's Labour's Lost performed at the Globe Theatre. They thwarted an attempt by the Carrionites to use the subsequent performance of Love's Labour's Won to free their brethren. The sequel was lost, with all copies of its script destroyed. (TV: The Shakespeare Code)
A mummers play differed from the typical scripted performance, instead being the product of oral tradition, passed on from one generation to the next. (AUDIO: Castle of Fear)
Juliette Vierge visited an insane asylum where she watched a play performed by the inmates. (PROSE: The Adventuress of Henrietta Street)