7 March, 1592 - Harry VI

Here's what Lord Strange's Men performed at the Rose playhouse on this day, 424 years ago...

Henslowe writes: R at hary vj the 7 of marche 1591 ... iij^ll

In modern English: Received at Harry VI, 7^th March, 1592 ... £3

Today, Lord Strange's Men offered a repeat performance of their play called Harry VI, which  was almost certainly Shakespeare's First Part of Henry VI; to learn more, visit the blog entry for 3rd March.

1540s portrait of King
Henry VI

This revival of Harry VI is quite a surprise, as the play's first performance was only three days ago. Clearly, the company saw they had a hit on their hands and wanted to capitalize on it. Presumably they also wanted to get in some practice at performing the play, which was still new to the actors. The tactic seems to have been a successful one, as this performance made almost as much money as its premiere.

That's all I have to say today. Short posts like this one are about to become more frequent, as Lord Strange's Men begin to cycle through the plays in their repertory. But not yet! There are still new plays to learn about this week, so stay tuned!

Henslowe links

• Transcript of this page of the Diary (from W.W. Greg's 1904 edition)
• Facsimile of this page of the Diary (from the Henslowe-Alleyn Digitisation Project)

Comments?

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