The plays of Nicholas Udall are a mix of the known and attributed, but his literatary finger prints are fairly distinct, so you shouldn’t worry too much about the size of his canon (though there will always be some debate). His writing is fluent, witty, and features some of the most dynamic staging and dialogue choices of the Tudor period. That he was mostly writing for boys is shown in these choices – the dialogue is often choppy, lines shared between multiple speakers, designed to be delivered at pace. Whilst the idiom of the dialogue feels of the period, the way it flows is decidedly modern, and will not be seen in the comedies of regular playing companies very often until the 17th century. This is because, with boys in a school, the author can take on a role akin to the modern director, working through the text with his pupils in some depth. This allows for complex patterns of dialogue and physical business that later playing companies, with a few weeks, a cue script and a rotating repertoire to manage, would resist.

Udall comes at an interesting moment for comedy/drama, in that there are (at least surviving) a number of plays where solid secular comedy, based on Roman and modern but translated models, are taking off in schools and with interlude groups. These are no longer framed as straightforward morality plays, which can be a turn off for audiences today, but comedies with (often) fairly stupid central characters who we can gain pleasure watching doing dumb things (a gross simplification, but this is the internet and one doesn’t want to risk TLDR). For examples of that, see Jack Juggler (heavily based on Terence), Thersites (half of which is a translation of Textor) and the one everyone knows, Ralph Roister Doister – the only play which actually has his name under the title. That isn’t to say he didn’t write moral interludes – his play Respublica is probably one of the best examples of the genre there is. The comedy business of the Vices in Acts 1 and 2 are superb, and if you’re into clowning and text, get four of you together, and work through Act 1 (and add a non-clown to continue into Act 2). Fast, physical, full of business – once you key into the style of the dialogue, you’ll be flying. He also produced a biblical drama of Jacob and Esau, though again grounding the story in comedy.

Thersites (1537) – a bragart soldier gets into scrapes, with snail fighting silliness, plus the taming of a tapeworm. Exploring sessions available. Discussing: Snail Fight with Professor Liz Oakley-Brown.

Ralph Roister Doister (1552) – dumb-ass sex pest gets his ass handed to him in the Battle of Mumblecrust. Exploring sessions available.

Respublica (1553) – Respublica is a woman, surrounded by men who leech away her power. She gets her girl squad together and kicks them out. Exploring sessions available.

Jacob and Esau (1554) – retelling of the Biblical tale. Exploring sessions available.

Jack Juggler (1555) – possibly the weakest of the attributions, but still a reasonable shout. A story of identity theft, lifed from Terence but given a real world context which makes it a bit more disturbing. Full Cast Audio Adaptation & !Spoilers! available.

In a similar vein – we have appearing around the same time the play Gammer Gurton’s Needle by a Mr S, which has often been collected with Ralph Roister Doister in print. Whilst clearly by different authors, the energy, tone, and physical comedy involved speaks to the same moment in history – plays that might have been primarily produced by and/or for the young, that gain a long hinterland in print.

Most of the works attributed to Udall are relatively scaleable – whilst only Thersites and Jack Juggler are small cast works for five or so people with doubling, the other plays have a core cast who carry most of the text. Respublica is carried by six characters for the first two thirds of the play, and both Ralph Roister Doister and Jacob and Esau are similarly balanced.