The Rehearsal (Unabridged)

A satirical play poking fun at the overblown tragedies produced in the time of the Restoration, first staged in 1671. It uses the device of having three men working to develop a new play and having the actors trying out various scenes. The play itself is made up almost entirely of excerpts of existing dramatic works, and especially at those of John Dryden. (In the etext of the printed play which you can access from the link below, the play script is published on the right hand pages with every left hand page full of footnotes describing from which plays the scenes, lines, and allusions are taken.)