19 January, 1593 - Tamar Cam

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

Henslowe writes: R at tambercam the 19 of Jenewarye 1593 ... xxxvj^s

In modern English: Received at Tamar Cam, 19^th January, 1593 ... 36 shillings

Today, for the first time after their return to the Rose, Lord Strange's Men revived one of their Tamar Cam plays. These paired plays, now lost, dramatized the exploits of the Mongol conqueror Hulagu Khan and were full of war and wizardry; you can read more about them in the entry for 28th April 1592. We do not know whether this was a performance of the first or second part of Tamar Cam; you can read more about that puzzle in the entry for 30th May.

Tamar Cam seems to have been designed to imitate Christopher Marlowe's much-loved Tamburlaine but it never achieved the popularity of its predecessor. Today's performance underlines that fact; despite having been absent from the stage for many months, it drew only an average-sized 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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