15 July, 1596 - Harry V

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 10 of July 1596 ... R at harye the v ... xiiij^s 

In modern English: [15^th] July, 1596 ... Received at Harry V ... 14 shillings

King Henry V, posthumous portrait
(late 16th or early 17th century)

Today, the Admiral's Men performed Harry V, their play about King Henry V of England, who, according to legend, gave up a dissolute lifestyle and led his country to victory against the French at the Battle of Agincourt before his untimely death. You can read more about this play in the entry for 28 November.

The company has waited a month to revive Harry V. After several performances showing an unusual rise in its box office, today's entry shows it plummeting back down again. In general, few plays have attracted big audiences in the last couple of weeks; perhaps the weather is bad. 

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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