12 May, 1592 - The Second Part of Tamar Cam

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

Henslowe writes: R at the 2 pte of tambercam y^e 10 of maye 1592 ... xxxvij^s

In modern English: Received at The Second Part of Tamar Cam, 10^th May, 1592 ... 37 shillings

Today, Lord Strange's Men returned to the new play that they had debuted just under two weeks ago, The Second Part of Tamar Cam. This lost play was most likely about the Mongol conqueror Hulagu Khan and his conquest of the Middle East. You can read more about it in the blog entry for 28th April.

It's surprising that the company waited so long before restaging their new play, and it's also surprising that it received such average box office on only its second performance. Was there something about this play that didn't work, for either the actors or the audience?

Persian illustration of Hulagu Khan (the likely inspiration for Tamar Cam) and his Christian wife

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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