4 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 vj the 4 of maye 15912 ... lvj^s

In modern English: Received at Harry VI, 4^th May, 1592 ... 56 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 company's normal practice has been to perform Harry VI  approximately once a week and the play had settled into a routine of producing reliable but unspectacular box office. But this time, the company had waited nearly a fortnight before performing it again. And look what happened: the play's audience nearly doubled! Could this be a case of absence making the heart grow fonder?

• Friday, 3rd March - 75 shillings
• Tuesday, 7th March - 60 shillings
• Saturday, 11th March - 47 shillings
• Thursday, 16th March - 31 shillings
• Tuesday, 28th March - 68 shillings
• Wednesday, 5th April - 41 shillings
• Thursday, 13th April - 26 shillings
• Friday, 21st April - 33 shillings
• Thursday, 4th May - 56 shillings

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!