The Herbal Bed (1996) is a play by Peter Whelan, written specifically for the Royal Shakespeare Company. The play is set in the year 1613 and is about Susanna Hall, daughter of William Shakespeare, who is accused of adultery with local haberdasher Rafe Smith. Her husband, Dr John Hall, is suspicious of their relationship, but stands up for his wife when she takes her accuser to court for slander. Though Susanna's father is regularly mentioned, his name is never specified and he never appears. The play ends as he is about to enter.

In the original 1996 production at The Other Place theatre, the leading role of John Hall was played by Liam Cunningham. Susanna was played by Teresa Banham. The accuser Jack Lane was played by David Tennant and Smith by Joseph Fiennes.^[1] The production was directed by Michael Attenborough.

During 1997 the play had a successful run at the Duchess Theatre in London's West End. John Hall was played by Lorcan Cranitch. In 1998, a NYC production played at the Eugene O'Neill Theater with an all-American cast, including Armand Schultz (Rafe), Tuck Milligan (John), and Laila Robins (Susanna). The NYC production was also directed by Michael Attenborough.

• John Hall, a doctor
• Susanna Hall, his wife
• Hester Fletcher, a servant of the Halls
• Rafe Smith, a haberdasher
• Jack Lane, a young gentleman studying medicine with Dr Hall
• Henry Parry, Bishop of Worcester
• Barnabus Goche, Vicar-General
• Elizabeth Hall, daughter of John and Susanna

The play derives from a real court case. In June 1613, a man named John Lane (1590–1640), aged 23, accused Susanna of adultery with a Rafe Smith at the house of John Palmer. He claimed she had caught "the running of the raynes [kidneys]", a term used for gonorrhea, from Smith. Smith was a 35-year-old haberdasher, and the nephew of Shakespeare's close friend Hamnet Sadler.^[2] On 15 July the Halls brought suit for slander against Lane in the Consistory Court at Worcester. Robert Whatcott, who three years later witnessed Shakespeare's will, testified for the Halls, but Lane failed to appear. Lane was found guilty and excommunicated.^[3]

Lane may have had a grudge against Hall. His later activities indicate that he may have been an opponent of the Puritan cause in Stratford. Hall was a notable Puritan and supporter of the local vicar, Thomas Wilson, against whom Lane would later provoke a riot. It is thus possible that Lane had political motives in defaming Susanna. However, he was regularly in trouble with the law. In 1619 he was tried for the rioting and for libelling the vicar and local aldermen. He was also accused in Stratford Church court of being an alcoholic.^[2]

In the play the principal witness Robert Whatcott does not appear in the court scene, but is named as the author of the letter to Hall outlining Lane's slanders. Lane was a member of a local gentry family, but was not studying medicine with Hall. The suggestion in the play that Shakespeare himself may be suffering from a venereal disease in his last years has been made by some biographers. Katherine Duncan-Jones argues that he suffered from syphilis.^[4] However, there is no evidence that he was seriously ill in 1613. Indeed, in November 1614 Shakespeare was in London on business for several weeks with Hall.^[5]