1 July, 1594 - The Jew of Malta

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 30 of June 1594 ... R at the Jewe of malta ... xxxxj^s

In modern English: 1^st July, 1594 ... Received at The Jew of Malta ... 41 shillings

Caravaggio's portrait of the Grand

Master of the Knights of Malta,

1607-8.

Today, the players once again performed The Jew of Malta, Christopher Marlowe's satirical comic tragedy; you can read more about this play in the blog entry for 26th February 1592.

It had been a week since the Admiral's Men last performed The Jew of Malta and it had received a rather disappointing turnout. This performance would have pleased the actors much more, bringing in an above average audience to the perennially popular play. It's a reminder, as always, that the audience size must be determined by factors that we cannot fully know, such as weather; after all, we are now in the height of summer, and perhaps today was simply a nice day for outdoor theatre.

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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