The scene opens with the three Oxford doctors reminding the audience of the king’s intention to come to Oxford and his wager that Bacon will best the German Vandermast. McMillin and MacLean called the dramaturgical inclination towards such reminders narrative over-deterimination which carries an implied criticism of this technique (133–138). In plays so packed full of variety and unfolding so many plots, however, the strategy is of great value as otherwise the audience may lose the thread of the action. Furthermore, the scene is an excellent example of the Queen’s Men commitment to variety over unity. It is tenuously connected to the plot of the play through the doctor’s concern about the arrival of the king but ultimately it fails the modern normative test for unity of action because, if removed, the story would still be told. But plot was not paramount in Queen’s Men entertainment and removing the scene would make the play less rich and less fun. By committing to the text of the scene and unearthing the comic action it implied, the SQM company developed comic business that brought the misbehavior of the prince’s wags to theatrical life and engaged our audience with the idea of order and misrule laying the thematic groundwork for the prince’s conversion in the next scene. The SQM principal clown (Alon Nashman) and Matthew Krist (Rafe) had developed an improvisatory spirit through the rehearsals which bore fruit in this scene, as the actors found new comic business in every live performance.