Sunday 1 December 2019

1 December,1595 - A Toy to Please Chaste Ladies

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

Henslowe writes: ye 31 of novmbȝ 1595 ... R at the toye to please chaste ladeyes ... xijs 

In modern English: [1st December, 1595] ... Received at The Toy to Please Chaste Ladies ... 12 shillings

Two Women at a Window by Murillo (1655-60)
Today, the Admiral's Men returned to A Toy to Please Chaste Ladies, an enigmatic lost play; you can read more about it in the entry for 14 November.

It is the first day of December, and we are now entering the period known as 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.

Perhaps this explains the disastrous box office of this third performance of A Toy to Please Chaste Ladies, which appears not to have pleased many ladies at all, chaste or otherwise.


Henslowe links



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