Re “exeunt”— yes, sorry, I was quoting from memory and misremembered. The point about not being “high literature” was that the plays had a very broad audience.

Re “exeunt”— yes, sorry, I was quoting from memory and misremembered. The point about not being “high literature” was that the plays had a very broad audience. Shakespeare’s company were asked to perform in front of royals as well, but the plays were were seen by up to 3000 people a day with the cheapest tickets being a penny (about the price of a loaf of bread - cheap even for its time). They were effectively mass entertainment for 16th century Londoners.