''John a Kent and John a Cumber'' is a sixteenth-century English play by

Anthony Munday Anthony Munday (or Monday) (1560?10 August 1633) was an English playwright and miscellaneous writer. He was baptized on 13 October 1560 in St Gregory by St Paul's, London, and was the son of Christopher Munday, a stationer, and Jane Munday. He ...

. The precise dating of the play is unknown, although a

holograph An autograph or holograph is a manuscript or document written in its author's or composer's hand. The meaning of autograph as a document penned entirely by the author of its content, as opposed to a typeset document or one written by a copyist o ...

ic transcript (dated 1590 in another hand) exists and there is some evidence that it was being performed on stage as early as 1587. The play is sometimes identified with ''The Wise Man of Westchester.'' The precise dating of the play is important for two reasons: this play may be the earliest surviving original work of Munday, and, secondly because of the parallels that exist between this play and

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

Midsummer Night's Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...

''. Arguably the title (and the character names therein) might alternatively be taken to imply, and modernize as, ''John o' Kent'' and ''John a' Cumber'' (Cumberland having been a Scottish possession up to the twelfth century), in which case the geography of the play would also embrace those two counties. The text gives no firm indication that the two Johns do indeed come from these places, and John a Kent was also the name of a fifteenth-century Welsh bard.

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1580s plays 1590s plays Plays in manuscript {{16thC-play-stub