This book focuses on the development of the repertory or “stock” system of playing and the ways in which it conditioned the 1580s and 90s English theatre industry. For the generation of theatre-makers before William Shakespeare, how did troupes differentiate themselves? How did their staging techniques manifest into distinct house styles? And what aspects of the collaborative process were industry norms and which idiosyncratic? Combining archival research across four company repertories, The Repertory System before Shakespeare reorients our gaze toward this system of playing crucial to the rise of the Elizabethan commercial theatre.