The present work argues for the invaluable contribution of boy actors to the evolution of Tudor drama. Since most young scholars later went up to university or the'Inns of Court, I have also considered the course of drama in those institutions. This drama in education was given its prime impetus by visiting professional troupes, whose itineraries included schools, universities and the Inns. The education in drama they set before their audiences helped shape the schools drama, which was able to develop and expand in a way denied the professionals by the consequences of the Reformation. Not till Leicester's men established themselves at the Theater were the professionals enabled once again to strive towards their eventual pre-eminence. The argument in those'sections dealing with the colleges of Winchester, Eton and Westminster is supported by original archival material hitherto unavailable in print. The Introduction states the situation at the moment of the foundation of the Theater and of the first Blackfriars. That significant moment marked the beginnings of the decline in the fortunes of the forces of drama in education. The prehistory is rooted in the broad educational changes of the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries (Chapter I) and in the seminal effect upon the drama of the sermons of the mendicant preachers of the later Middle Ages (Chapter I). These twin influences forged the drama of pre-Reformation England, defined the roles of professionals and boys alike (Chapter II).