Short answers, pulled from the story.
Queen Elizabeth I ascended to the throne in 1558 inheriting a nation that had been financially bankrupt and religiously fractured. Her predecessor Mary Tudor left behind a state with no money and deep divisions between Catholics and Protestants.
The Ridolfi plot failed in 1570 while the Throckmorton Plot emerged in 1584 after Francis Throckmorton confessed his involvement. Another major conspiracy known as the Babington Plot led directly to the execution of Mary Queen of Scots.
English shipwrights introduced new designs in 1573 first demonstrated in the Dreadnaught that allowed ships to sail faster and maneuver better while permitting heavier guns. Unlike previous wars where ships tried to grapple with each other so soldiers could board the enemy vessel, English captains now stood off and fired broadsides that sank the enemy vessel.
Charles and Joscelyn Percy younger brothers of the Earl of Northumberland were among those who funded the play. Supporters paid forty shillings above their usual rate to stage Richard II at the Globe Theatre hoping this performance would stir public ill will towards the monarchy.
Tudor municipalities were overcrowded and unhygienic despite home to only a small part of England's population. Most towns were unpaved with poor public sanitation containing no sewers or drains where rubbish was simply abandoned in the street leading to common diseases including smallpox measles malaria typhus diphtheria scarlet fever and chickenpox.