21 October, 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 20 of octobȝ  1594 ... R at the Jewe of malta 1594 ... xiij^s  

In modern English: [21^st] October, 1594 ... Received at The Jew of Malta ... 13 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.

You could be forgiven for having forgotten about The Jew of Malta. The players have left it unperformed for nearly two months. And the audience did not miss it. This giant of a play, which had once been the most popular at the Rose, can no longer draw a crowd; today's box office is dismal. A sad day.

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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