1 April, 1592 - Sir John Mandeville

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

Henslowe writes: R at mandefell the 1 of ap^rell 1591 ... xxx^s

In modern English: Received at Mandeville, 1^st April, 1592 ... 30 shillings

Mandevillian monster from
the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493)

Today, Lord Strange's Men performed again their lost play about Sir John Mandeville. Although Mandeville is today most famous for his fantastical travel narratives, this play was probably a chivalric and comic romance, in which Sir John won the hand of a fair lady above his station. You can read more about it in the entry for 24th February.

The company had not performed Sir John Mandeville for over 5 weeks, and with good reason, as it had made only a paltry 12 shillings last time. However, this time it received a more solid 30 shillings. This turnaround is in keeping with the generally above average box office of this week, and is further evidence that Easter Week was great for business in the Elizabethan theatre .

What's next?

There will be no blog entry tomorrow because 2nd April was a Sunday in 1592. Henslowe's Diary ... as a Blog! will thus return on 3rd April and we'll see if the company's run of success will last...

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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