Henslowe writes: ye 13 of novmbȝ 1596 ... R at tambercame ... xvijs
In modern English: 13th November, 1596 ... Received at Tamar Cam ... 17 shillings
The two Tamar Cam plays have been around for a long time; we first encountered them four years ago in 1592, at the premiere of the sequel premiered, but the original already existed. We saw that they may have been created to replicate the popular Tamburlaine plays by Christopher Marlowe. At the end of 1594, the company seems to have acquired the right to revive Tamburlaine itself, and Tamar Cam was thus set aside. But the revival of Tamburlaine wasn't very successful either. Back in May of this year; the company returned to Tamar Cam again, but that revival too didn't do very well.
One cannot help but suspect that plays about Mongol conquerors are now considered old hat by the audience, and the company has thus decided to bid farewell to Tamar Cam. However, the plays have not gone for good; in 1602, it will be performed by another company at the Fortune playhouse in north London.
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| Persian illustration of Hulagu Khan (the likely inspiration for Tamar Cam) and his Christian wife |
What's next?
There will be no blog entry tomorrow because November 14 was Sunday in 1596 and the players did not petform. Henslowe's Diary ... as a Blog! will thus return on the 15th for what will turn to be a mysteriously curtailed week. See you then!
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?
Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!
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