31 December, 1596 - The Seven Days of the Week

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 31 of desembȝ  1596 ... R at the vij dayes ... vj^s    

In modern English: 31^st December, 1596 ... Received at The Seven Days ... 6 shillings

Today, the Admiral's Men revived their enigmatic lost play The Seven Days of the Week, about which we know nothing beyond its title. Perhaps it was an anthology of seven short plays, or perhaps it was about the creation of the world. You can read more about it in the entry for 3rd June, 1595.

19th-century Italian bracelet illustrating each of the seven days of
the week with a portrait of the deity associated with it.
From the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 

This week has been quite a rollercoaster ride, with very large Christmas season audiences being followed by embarrassingly small ones. Today's performance is the latter; we're halfway through the the twelve days of Christmas and playgoers are barely to be seen. 

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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