5 March, 1595 - Seleo and Olympo

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 5 of marche 1594 ... ne ... R at  seleo & olempo ... iij^ll 

In modern English: 5^th March, 1595 ... New ... Received at Seleo and Olympo ... £3

Portrait of Two Friends by Pontormo (1524)

Today was Ash Wednesday, a holiday and the traditional beginning of the forty days of Lent. But although London is now embarking upon the fasting-time, its people do not seem to be abstaining from theatre. Indeed, the Admiral's Men seem to be expecting a large crowd because they chose this day to premiere a brand new play, Seleo and Olympo.

Unfortunately, Seleo and Olympo is another lost play about which we know nothing at all. No known story features characters of that name, so all that we can say is that the play was about two men. What they did, and whether their adventures were comic or tragic, will never be known.

FURTHER READING

Seleo and Olympo information

• Martin Wiggins, British Drama, 1533-1642: A Catalogue, vol. 3 (Oxford University Press, 2013), entry 995.

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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