The miracle plays stayed on beside Marlowe and Shakespeare till Puritanism frowned upon them.

But when the end came it came quickly.

The last recorded performance took place in London when King James entertained Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador.

And perhaps we should regard that as a "command" performance, reviving as command performances commonly do, something dead for a generation--in this case, purely out of compliment to the faith and inclination of a distinguished guest.
Next in order of development after the miracle or mystery plays, though contemporary in their popularity, came what we called "moralities" or "moral interludes"-- pieces designed to enforce a religious or ethical lesson and perhaps to get back into drama something of the edification which realism had ousted from the miracles.

They dealt in allegorical and figurative personages, expounded wise saws and moral lessons, and squared rather with the careful self-concern of the newly established Protestantism than with the frank and joyous jest in life which was more characteristic of the time.