16 May, 1592 - Harry VI

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

Henslowe writes: R at harey the 6 the 14 of maye 1592 ... l^s

In modern English: Received at Harry VI, 16^th May, 1592 ... 50 shillings

1540s portrait of King
Henry VI

Today, Lord Strange's Men performed Harry VI again. This play was almost certainly Shakespeare's First Part of Henry VI; you can read more about it in the blog entry for 3rd March.

The Whitsuntide holidays continued today and have succeeded in reviving the popularity of Harry VI, which had been receiving weak box office of late. Over-familiarity with the play may have been causing its audiences to wane, but at this festive time of year we can guess that the Rose was thronged with people who normally didn't have time to attend the theatre very often.

• Friday, 3rd March - 75 shillings (premiere)
• Tuesday, 7th March - 60 shillings
• Saturday, 11th March - 47 shillings
• Thursday, 16th March - 31 shillings
• Tuesday, 28th March - 68 shillings (Easter Week)
• Wednesday, 5th April - 41 shillings
• Thursday, 13th April - 26 shillings
• Friday, 21st April - 33 shillings
• Thursday, 4th May - 56 shillings
• Tuesday, 9th May - 22 shillings
• Tuesday, 16th May - 50 shillings (Whitsuntide)

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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