20 August, 1594 - Tasso's Melancholy

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 18 of aguste 1594 ... R at tassoes mallencoley ... xxxxvij^s 

In modern English: 18^th August, 1594 ... Received at Tasso's Melancholy ... 47 shillings

Tasso in the Madhouse
by Eugene Delacroix (1839)

Today, the Admiral's Men returned to Tasso's Melancholy, the play that they had premiered last week. This lost play dramatized the lovesick insanity of the Italian poet Torquato Tasso; you can read more about it in the entry for 13th August.

Tasso's Melancholy is following the standard pattern of a successful new play: its second performance has received a handsome box office, presumably as a result of positive word of mouth. Edward Alleyn must have been pleased as he raved across the stage in the role of the mad poet.

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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