What are the secular influnces on the Early English Drama?

The earliest English Drama that we note as wholly English
would be the Mystery, Miracle and Morality plays of the Middle Ages.  Though they were
meant as teaching tools of the Church, meant to convey stories and lessons of
Christianity to a largely illiterate populace, they, of necessity, bore the marks of
secular influence, most notably in the use of theatrical
device.

These plays, in many ways, need to be considered as
secular events because of the context in which they would be performed -- NOT in a
church.  Wagons traveled to an open area -- an inn courtyard or open street -- opened
their doors and performed.  It was the necessities of a theatrical rather than
liturgical environment that sparked the secular
influence.

Actors want to keep an audience engaged, and one
of the easiest ways to do that is through humor.  So a great deal of the secular
investment into these plays was through comic actors inventing action and text which
diverged from the Biblical story or moral being presented.  Comic actors or clowns, were
know all the way up to Shakespeare's day for their ability to improvise humorous action
and remarks, sometimes to the detriment of the plot of the
play.

The Vice character of Morality plays was another
ultimately secular influence.  Though meant to show the audience the downfall of
behaving badly, Vice was often a funny, wily character, whose charm proved very
seductive to the audience he was meant to repel.  Shakespearean villains like Iago and
Richard III are direct descendants of the Vice
character.

Though there are other influences, I would
suggest that humor and the power it affords an actor in winning and maintaining the
audience's attention is a major secular addition to Early English Drama.  More secular
influences can be found at the links given below.