When I was in high school and we studied Shakespeare, the teachers would
always note that all the references to mythology and religion etc. in his
plays were common knowledge in those days, so it would have been much easier
for Shakespearian audiences to "get it" than it was for us. They'd always
tell us this with a sort of eye-rolling sigh, as if they were saying "kids
these days, they don't know their mythology, they're so culturally inept."

It occurs to me that we don't know our mythology because that function of
mythology has been thoroughly replaced by the Simpsons. I'm sure a
moderately talented 21st century playwright could infuse a play with
Simpsons references in the same way that Shakespeare used mythology.