20 April, 1592 - Titus and Vespasian

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

Henslowe writes: R at tittus & vespecia the 20 ap^rell 1591 ... lvj^s 

In modern English: Received at Titus and Vespasian, 20^th April, 1592 ... 56 shillings

Today, Lord Strange's Men revived Titus and Vespasian, the new play that they had premiered just over a week ago. This lost play was probably a gruesome tale about the Roman siege of Jerusalem in the 1st century; you can read more about it in the entry for 11th April.

The play's debut performance had received a very impressive 64 shillings, and today's performance, though a little lower, was still comfortably successful. This pattern echoes what happened with the company's previous new play, Harry VI, although Titus and Vespasian has not quite matched the stunning box office receipts of that play.

Nicholas Poussin, The Destruction and Sack of the Temple at Jerusalem (1637)

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)

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