The lord mayor and alderman of London ask the privy council to impose a ban on plays and playhouses, naming the Theatre, Curtain, and the Bankside as places for playing in and around the City. They list four reasons for imposing the ban: 1. plays corrupt youth; 2. playhouses generate crime and immorality; 3. plays promote idleness and lure apprentices and servants away from their work; 4. large gatherings of people in theatres fuel the plague.