30 November, 1594 - Warlamchester

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

Henslowe writes: y^e  of 30 of novmbȝ 1594 ... R at warlamchester ... xxxviij^s 

In modern English: 30^th November, 1594 ... Received at Warlamchester ... 38 shillings

The martyrdom of St Alban, from a 13th century
manuscript by Matthew Paris

Today, the Admiral's Men performed again their lost play Warlamchester, which was probably about the martyrdom of St Alban during the Roman persecutions of Christians.You can read more about this play in the entry for 28 November.

The company brought this old play back to the stage only two days ago, so it is a great surprise to see it back again so soon. Perhaps the company got a good vibe from the small audience that had showed up, and wanted to try the play again as soon as possible; if so, they were right to do so, because today's box office is almost twice as good; word of mouth may have spread.

What's next?

There will be no blog entry tomorrow because 1 December was a Sunday in 1594 and the players did not perform. Henslowe's Diary ... as a Blog! will thus return on the 2nd, for a week that will include a new play!

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?

Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!