English Drama contains more than 3,900 plays in verse and prose from the late thirteenth century - the likely date of the Shrewsbury Fragments - to the early twentieth.

A full list of works included in the collection is given in the bibliography.
The bibliographic basis of English Drama is the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (Cambridge University Press, 1969-1972).

Each text is reproduced in full, as is accompanying text written by the playwright and forming an integral part of the play, such as epigraphs, castlists, and notes. Commendatory and prefatory poems by the playwright and others have also been included.