8 January, 1594 - George a Greene

Here's what the Earl of Sussex's Men performed at the Rose playhouse on this day, 424 years ago...

Henslowe writes: R at the piner of wiackeffeld the 8 of Jenewary 1593 ... xxiij^s 

In modern English: Received at The Pinner of Wakefield, 8^th January 1594 ... 23 shillings

Fighting with staves, from a German fighting
manual published by Christian Egenolff

Today, Sussex's Men revived George a Greene, the Pinner of Wakefield. This is a festive comedy in which the eponymous northern folk hero helps the king, wins the hand of a fair maiden, and beats several opponents at stave-fighting. You can read more about this play in the entry for 28 December.

After the popularity of Friar Francis yesterday, the Rose receipts have returned to sluggishness again. However, despite this uneventful day, I encourage you to enjoy Henslowe's spelling of 'Wakefield' (see above), which is one of his masterpieces.

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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