9 August, 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 7 of aguste 1594 ... R at the Jewe of malta ... xvij^s vj^d 

In modern English: 9^th August, 1594 ... Received at The Jew of Malta ... 16 shillings and sixpence

Caravaggio's portrait of the Grand

Master of the Knights of Malta,

1607-8.

First, let's note that Henslowe's dates have once again become garbled, and they will be out of sync by a couple of days for a long time.

Anyway, 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.

How are the mighty fallen! The Jew of Malta has lost its crowd-pleasing reputation of late. The company has rushed it back to the stage only a few days after its last performance, but today's box office, representing a very small audience, is truly embarrassing for the once-mighty blockbuster. 

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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