15th May, 1592 - Hieronimo

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

Henslowe writes: ^{whittson tyde} R at Jeronymo the 13 maye 1592 ... iij^ll 4^s 

In modern English: Whitsuntide. Received at Hieronimo, 15^th May, 1592 ... £3 and 4 shillings 

Today was an exciting day for Philip Henslowe and Lord Strange's Men. It is the first day of Whitsuntide, a multi-day holiday celebrating the beginning of summer! Many Londoners would have free time and be in a festive mood, so there was the chance of bigger and livelier audiences. 

Woodcut from the 1615 edition of The Spanish Tragedy.

Sure enough, today's performance received splendid box office. The company chose to stage their old standard Hieronimo, which is almost certainly an alternate title for Thomas Kyd's The Spanish Tragedy. You can read more about this play in the entry for 14th March. The performance nearly filled the theatre, showing that the mad revenge of a grieving father could still draw large crowds.

• Tuesday, 14th March - 71 shillings (performed the day after the Comedy)
• Monday, 20th March - 38 shillings (performed as an individual play)
• Friday, 31st March - 60 shillings (Easter Week; performed the day after the Comedy)
• Friday, 7th April - 26 shillings (performed as an individual play)
• Friday, 14th April - 33 shillings (performed as an individual play)
• Monday, 24th April - 28 shillings (performed one working day after the Comedy, but with Sunday interrupting)
• Tuesday, 2nd May - 34 shillings (performed as an individual play)
• Thursday, 11th May - 26 shillings (performed as an individual play)
• Monday, 15th May - 64 shillings (Whitsuntide; performed as an individual play)

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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