The subject of my thesis is early modern apprentices in the 1590s, specifically their representation in the drama of the period and their relationship to wider apprentice culture. I began with a burning desire to understand why apprentices had such a riotous reputation at this time, but my mission has broadened to an exploration of nature of early modern apprentice life, the apprentice’s place within the London livery companies and apprentice political agency at a time when the capital was struggling to cope with the challenges of a variety of economic pressures, unemployment, a series of poor harvests, high taxation and inflation that eroded standards of living. These challenges placed enormous strains on the city’s resources and fed into the unrest characteristic of the 1590s.