23 January, 1593 - Cosmo

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

Henslowe writes: R at cossmo the 23 of Jenewarye 1593 ... xxx^s 

In modern English: Received at Cosmo, 23^rd January, 1593 ... 30 shillings

Woodcut illustrating cuckoldry.

Today, Lord Strange's Men revived again their lost play The Comedy of Cosmo.  This is probably an alternative title for The Jealous Comedy which had premiered recently. If so, it was likely an Italian-style comedy about the perennially popular subject of cuckolds. You can learn more about The Jealous Comedy in the entry for 5th January, and about Cosmo in the entry for 11th January.

Cosmo (and The Jealous Comedy) has until now received above average box office, but today's results shows it descending into the realms of the average.

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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