shakespeare's plays continued to be staged after his death until the interregnum (1642–1660), when most public stage performances were banned by the puritan rulers. while denied the use of the stage, costumes and scenery, actors still managed to ply their trade by performing "drolls" or short pieces of larger plays that usually ended with some type of jig. shakespeare was among the many playwrights whose works were plundered for these scenes. among the drolls taken from shakespeare were "bottom the weaver" (bottom's scenes from "a midsummer night's dream") and "the grave-makers" (the gravedigger's scene from "hamlet").