Although satire is generally known for its problematic relationship to aspects of genre, the formal verse satires written in the 1590s by for example John Donne and John Marston are usually thought of in terms of imitation of classical satirists like Horace, Juvenal and Persius. However, despite the fact that several satirical writers were also theatregoers and at least Marston made a career as a playwright, little attention has been paid to the question whether Elizabethan satire was also infused with a theatrical understanding of space and dialogue. Although frequently thought of as ‘monologic’, Elizabethan verse satire displays patterns that could be termed theatrical in the sense of exploring differing, conflicting voices; Marston not least excels in this type of polyvalent, inconsistent dramatic persona. Moreover, the satirists’ strong sense of dramatic, urban space is not only imitated from Latin models but, the paper argues, is an emulative, visualizing and genre-bending take on classical satire.