A common theme in Shakespeare’s plays is the relationship between the theater and real life. In this scene, Antony reverses the plebeians' judgment by giving a performance worthy of a great stage actor; and in Act 1, Casca described Antony’s offering of a mock crown to Caesar as staged performance for the plebeian crowd. However, the most famous example of Shakespeare characters putting on a play is when Hamlet arranges to have a play performed at court in order to confirm that his uncle-turned-stepfather is his father’s murderer. 

In the age of Shakespeare, the theater served not just to entertain, but also to convey a knowledge of history. This is reflected in Brutus’ remark, “How many ages hence shall this our lofty scene be acted over in states unborn and accents yet unknown.”

Finally, two of Shakespeare’s most famous passages are metaphors comparing life to a play. From Macbeth:

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.

And in As You Like It:

All the world’s a stage,

And all the men and women merely players;

They have their exits and their entrances,

And one man in his time plays many parts,

His acts being seven ages.