Act 2, Scene 1 Summary

Dangle, Puff and Sneer come in as Puff is arguing that Shakespeare's point about actors being "the abstract and brief chronicles of the times" should in fact be applied to plays. He uses this as an explanation for writing a play about the Spanish Armada set at Tilbury Fort. Dangle asks whether he has introduced a love story into his plot, and Puff says there was nothing easier to do, adding that it's the story of the daughter of the fort's governor and the son of a Spanish admiral. Dangle suggests the romance is improbable, but Puff says the purpose of plays isn't to show things that happen every day, but things that might happen.

The Prompter comes in, announces that everything is ready for the rehearsal to begin and tells Puff he'll find the play quite short, saying the actors...