12 May, 1595 - The French Comedy

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 12 of maye 1595 ... R at the frenshe comodey ... xxviij^s 

In modern English: 12^th May, 1595 ... Received at The French Comedy ... 27 shillings.

French commedia dell'arte performers,
from a 17th-century engraving by Jacques Callot

Today, the Admiral's Men returned to The French Comedy, a lost play about which we know almost nothing. You can read more about this play in the entry for February 11.  

The company premiered The French Comedy back in January and it had been moderately succesful, but this is still only its third performance. They may be attempting to place it more firmly within their repertory, but its box office today is merely average, making it ambiguous whether the attempt is likely to succeed.

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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