The Parnassus Plays are a lively satirical trilogy about the value of the arts degree in late Elizabethan England. Written anonymously between 1598 and 1603 and performed at St John's College, Cambridge, the plays follow the fortunes of two students who set out for university with high hopes of achieving literary distinction, but who later struggle to find employment in the unforgiving world outside academe. Moving from one menial occupation to another, they reach their lowest ebb when they are auditioned for acting roles in Shakespeare's company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men. The students are accompanied in their misfortunes by a character based on the satirical pamphleteer, Thomas Nashe, who reflects the realities of trying to make a living from writing. He also acts as a guide to the English literary scene at the turn of the seventeenth century, and many of the most famous names of the time, including Spenser, Marlowe and Shakespeare, are presented for imitation and evaluation. The work of Shakespeare features prominently in all three plays, not always with approval. The plays pit the values of the academic world against those of the London theatres and the book trade, and offer a unique student perspective on literature and society at the height of the English Renaissance. Although the plays were edited in an old-spelling edition in 1949, they have long been unobtainable, and they are presented here for the first time in a modernised text with a substantial critical introduction and explanatory notes.