2 December, 1594 - The Grecian Comedy

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

Henslowe writes: y^e j of desembȝ 1594 ... R at the gresyan comody ... iiij^s 

In modern English: [2^nd] December, 1594 ... Received at The Grecian Comedy ... 4 shillings

The Love of Helen and Paris
by Jacques-Louis David (1789)

Today, the company returned to The Grecian Comedy. We know nothing about this play beyond its title, although Henslowe sometimes calls it The Grecian Lady, which adds a tiny bit more information; you can read more about it in the entry for 5 October.

Wow! The Grecian Comedy just won the record for the lowest box office recorded in Henslowe's Diary so far! To draw an audience this small is almost unheard of.

The small audience may not be entirely due to the play itself, however. Yesterday was the beginning of Advent, a period traditionally associated with fasting before Christmas. Although theatre was obviously still permitted, it's likely that a lot of Londoners would have felt guilty about attending during this time.

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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