13 January, 1597 That Will Be Shall Be

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 13 of Janewary 1597 ... R at that wilbe shalbe ... xxij^s 

In modern English: 13^th January, 1597 ... Received at That Will Be Shall Be ... 22 shillings

Today, the Admiral's Men revived That Will Be Shall Be, an enigmatic lost play. You can read more about this play in the entry for 30 December, 1596.

On its fourth performance in only two weeks, That Will Be Shall Be has received a fairly small audience. It had achieved some success during the Christmas season, but it seems likely that outside of the festive season it is not viewed as anything special. 

A female archer tries to take down a war elephant. The man on the
right appears to share the sentiments of this play's title.
From the Smithfield Decretals (c.1340)

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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