Shakespeare’s solo-authored late plays are highly patterned in plot structure, an established signifier of his late style.1 I argue that comic subplots do not merely break up the romance action of the late plays but also enact foolish-wise ideas through what I term the figurative platea. The figurative platea comprises irony, metatheatre and asides; each are elements of dramaturgy which invite collaboration from the audience, reflecting Robert Weimann’s initial formulation of the platea as a collaborative theatrical space.2 This figurative platea bridges the world of the play and the audience by triangulating types of irony, metatheatre and asides, but it is not necessarily located in a particular stage space in Shakespeare’s late plays.