19 April, 1592 - A Looking-Glass for London and England

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

Henslowe writes: R at the lockingglasse the 19 ap^rell 1591 ... xxiiij^s

In modern English: Received at The Looking-Glass, 19^th April, 1592 ... 24 shillings

Jonah and the Whale by Pieter Lastman (1621)

Today, Lord Strange's Men returned to A Looking-Glass for London and England, which they had last performed three weeks ago. This moralistic adaptation of the Book of Jonah features a vivid evocation of the sinful city of Nineveh and draws overt parallels with contemporary London; you can read more about it in the entry for 8th March.

So far, Lord Strange's Men have been performing this play at three week intervals and it has received extremely divergent responses, from a dismal 7 shillings in early March to an impressive 55 shillings on Easter Monday. Today's performance fell between those extremes; without the backing of a religious holiday, the play's condemnations of London's sins do not seem to have been able to draw huge audiences.

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?

Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!