English authorities find some of the satire contained in interludes by such authors as John Heywood, John Rastell, David Lindsay, the late John Skelton, and John Bale, so offensive that interludes are banned by proclamation in 1533, the more political having by this time shed both their lightness and their aristocratic audience.

English poet and playwright John Heywood writes two interludes, plays similar to farces and made up of satirical debates in verse: “The Pardoner and the Friar, the Curate and the Neighbor Priest" and “John-John the Husband, Tib his Wife, and Sir John the Priest". Both written in about 1533, the latter, also known as “Johan Johan,” is a prototypical triangle of adultery involving a henpecked husband, shrewish wife, and lecherous priest.

Around the same time, Heywood writes “The Play of the Weather,” which, unlike his interludes, intended for a popular audience, is written for a courtly audience; its theme is that people are as unlikely to agree upon the weather as they are to agree on religion and politics.

Heywood is a Catholic and a member of Sir Thomas More's household, where his plays possibly see production.