Henslowe writes: R at frier bacon the 5 of aprell 1593 ... xxs
In modern English: Received at Friar Bacon, 5th April, 1594 ... 20 shillings
From the title page of a prose tale of Friar Bacon, 1629,
which was re-used for the 1630 edition of the play.
Today, Sussex's Men and the Queen's Men revived again their magical fantasy about the wizard Friar Bacon with which they had opened the current season at the Rose four days ago. This play may have been Robert Greene's Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, or it may have been the anonymous John of Bordeaux; you can read more about it in the entry for 19th February, 1592.
Friar Bacon received 20 shillings, only half the box office that it had done on Monday, and a figure below the average for the Rose, but one in keeping with the typical response to this much-revived but rarely crowd-pleasing play.
Henslowe writes: R at frier bacone the j of marche Aprell 1593 ... xxxxiijs
In modern English: Received at Friar Bacon, 1st April, 1594 ... 43 shillings
From the title page of a prose tale of Friar Bacon, 1629,
which was re-used for the 1630 edition of the play.
Welcome back! Today, on Easter Monday, 1594, the Rose playhouse re-opened its doors to Londoners after having been closed nearly two months due to fears of the plague. The plague does not seem to have materialised, despite the fears. But for reasons unknown, the Rose will remain open for only eight days, so you should enjoy this brief flurry of activity while you can...
There are new faces at the Rose. Sussex's Men, who had occupied the theatre from December to February, have now apparently been joined by members of the Queen's Men. It is not known for certain why this arrangement was made, but as a result at least one play from the Queen's Men's repertory will be performed later this week.
To begin their new season, the players have opted for the familiarity of a play about the wizard Friar Bacon. This may have been Robert Greene's Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, or it may have been the anonymous John of Bordeaux; you can read more about them in the entry for 19th February, 1592. Friar Bacon received 43 shillings, a better amount than it normally received at the Rose, but not as impressive as one might expect for a theatre re-opening after two months on a festival day.
Henslowe writes: R at frier bacon the 30 of July Jenewaye 1593 ... xijs
In modern English: Received at Friar Bacon, 30th January, 1593 ... 12 shillings
From the title page of a prose tale of Friar Bacon, 1629,
which was re-used for the 1630 edition of the play.
Today, Lord Strange's Men revived their magical fantasy about the wizard Friar Bacon. This play may have been Robert Greene's Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, or it may have been the anonymous John of Bordeaux; you can read more about it in the entry for 19th February, 1592.
As with Sir John Mandeville, which they staged a couple of day ago, the company is continuing to perform old plays like Friar Bacon that result in a largely empty Rose theatre. One theory I've already mentioned is that they're performing the plays that had proved popular on tour, and hadn't had time to prepare alternatives for the more sophisticated (or jaded) London audience. Given that the company may have already known that they would be returning to touring soon, perhaps they had been deliberately keeping these old plays fresh in their minds, preparing for a return to the road,
Henslowe writes: R at frer bacon the 17 of Jenewary 1593 ... xxs
In modern English: Received at Friar Bacon, 17th January, 1593 ... 20 shillings
From the title page of a prose tale of Friar Bacon, 1629,
which was re-used for the 1630 edition of the play.
Today, Lord Strange's Men revived their magical fantasy about the wizard Friar Bacon. This play may have been Robert Greene's Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, or it may have been the anonymous John of Bordeaux; you can read more about it in the entry for 19th February, 1592.
The company had previously performed Friar Bacon only a week ago, had it had underachieved at the box office. Today, it was even less popular. The play had never been successful even in the previous season, and it's still hard to understand why the company keeps reviving it.
Henslowe writes: R at fryer bacon the 10 of Jenewary 1593 ... xxiiijs
In modern English: Received at Friar Bacon, 10th January, 1593 ... 24 shillings
From the title page of a prose tale of Friar Bacon, 1629,
which was re-used for the 1630 edition of the play.
Today, for the first time since their return to the Rose playhouse, Lord Strange's Men revived their magical fantasy about the wizard Friar Bacon.
The exact identity of this play is uncertain: it may have been Robert Greene's Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, or it may have been the anonymous John of Bordeaux; you can read more about it in the entry for 19th February 1592. Whichever of the two it was, the play would have been a spectacular one, full of magic, romance and special effects.
Unfortunately, Londoners do not seem to have had fond memories of Friar Bacon. The play had never been at all popular in their previous season, and today's performance achieved an equally unimpressive audience. Few people seem to have been interested in the return of the wizard to the Rose.
Henslowe writes: R at fryer bacon the 6 of maye 1592 ... xiiijs
In modern English: Received at Friar Bacon, 6th May, 1592 ... 14 shillings
From the title page of a prose tale of Friar Bacon, 1629,
which was re-used for the 1630 edition of the play.
Today, Lord Strange's Men returned to their magical fantasy about the wizard Friar Bacon, which they had last performed just under a fortnight ago. The exact identity of this play is uncertain: it may have been Robert Greene's Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, or it may have been the anonymous John of Bordeaux; you can read more about it in the entry for 19th February.
In a previous entry, I wondered whether the company would be dropping Friar Bacon from their repertory, due to its consistently low box office. Today, it managed to achieve its smallest audience ever. I continue to wonder why they're bothering with this play.
Saturday, 19th February - 15 shillings
Saturday, 25th March - 17 shillings
Wednesday, 26th April - 23 shillings
Saturday, 6 May - 14 shillings
What's next?
There will be no blog entry tomorrow because 7th May was a Sunday in 1592. Henslowe's Diary ... as a Blog! will thus return on 8th May...
Henslowe writes: R at fryer bacon the 26 of aprell 1592 ... xxiiijs
In modern English: Received at Friar Bacon, 26th April, 1592 ... 23 shillings
From the title page of a prose tale of Friar Bacon, 1629,
which was re-used for the 1630 edition of the play.
Today, Lord Strange's Men returned to their magical fantasy about the wizard Friar Bacon. The exact identity of this play is uncertain: it may have been Robert Greene's Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, or it may have been the anonymous John of Bordeaux; you can read more about it in the entry for 19th February.
Friar Bacon had returned unimpressive box office on its previous outings (15 and 17 shillings). This time it did slightly better, but it still remained on the lower rung of popularity. One can't help suspecting that it'll be dropped from the repertory pretty soon.
Henslowe writes: R at fryer bacon the 25 of marche 1591 ... xvs vjd
In modern English: Received at Friar Bacon, 25th March, 1592 ... 15 shillings and sixpence.
From the title page of a prose tale of Friar Bacon, 1629,
which was re-used for the 1630 edition of the play.
Today, Lord Strange's Men returned to the play with which Henslowe's records began, back on 19th February. The exact identity of this play is uncertain: it may have been Robert Greene's Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, or it may have been the anonymous John of Bordeaux; you can read more about it in the entry for 19th February.
Friar Bacon had returned unimpressive box office a month ago, and it made 2 shillings less this time. This was one more in a string of poorly-attended performances over the last fortnight. It seems as though neither old or new plays could break this run of bad luck. Henslowe must have been frustrated.
What's next?
There will be no blog entry tomorrow because 26th March was a Sunday in 1592. Henslowe's Diary ... as a Blog! will thus return on 27th March and we'll see if the company's luck changes...
Welcome to the first post in a day-by-day journey through the life of an Elizabethan theatre! In this blog, I'll be using the records preserved in Philip Henslowe's diary to post daily information on the plays performed at the Rose playhouse, 424 years ago. The aim is for you to experience a little of how it felt to be a playgoer or actor in Shakespeare's London by glimpsing the daily parade of plays performed at just one theatre. You can read more about the project here.
This blog is founded on a list of box office takings from the Rose playhouse, written by its owner, the businessman Philip Henslowe. His list begins on this very day, 19 February, in 1592. So, let's see what was performed at the Rose that day:
Henslowe writes: R at fryer bacvne the 19 febrary satterdaye ... xvijs iijd In modern English: Received at Friar Bacon, 19th February (Saturday) ... 17 shillings and threepence.
Once we translate Henslowe's arcane spelling, we can see that on this day in 1592, the audience at the Rose was entertained with a play about Friar Bacon, a fantastical version of the real-life medieval scholar Roger Bacon, who was often portrayed as a wizard in popular culture.
Today's post will be more long-winded than most, because two plays about Friar Bacon have survived from the Elizabethan theatre and we don't know which was performed at the Rose on this day. Was it Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay or was it John of Bordeaux? I'll have to tell you about both...
If the play was Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay...
Robert Greene's Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay portrays Bacon as an academic experimenting with magic. Bacon repeatedly demonstrates his skills by bamboozling sceptics and out-performing rival magicians, who include the eponymous Friar Bungay and a German named Vandermast. This results in a great deal of onstage spectacle, including a a magic mirror that can show far-off events, and the summoning of Hercules to pull down a golden tree. A romantic subplot tells of Bacon assisting Prince Edward in his wooing of a country girl named Margaret, but Edward eventually marries Eleanor of Castile.
From the title page of a prose tale of Friar Bacon, 1629,
which was re-used for the 1630 edition of the play.
In the play's most famous scene (depicted in the illustration on the right), Bacon makes a bronze head, which he hopes will give lectures in philosophy. He stays up all night but the head says nothing, so the sleepy Bacon orders his comic servant, Miles, to wake him if it speaks. Miles watches the head, which suddenly utters mysterious words ("Time is ... Time Was ... Time is Past"), but Miles doesn't wake Bacon in time, and the head self-destructs. The angry Bacon summons a demon who carries Miles to Hell on his back, with the fabulous stage direction "Exeunt, roaring".
The play ends with Bacon renouncing magic after two men die as a result of what they see in his magic mirror. Bacon's final act is to predict England's future: war followed by peace.The last lines of the play are spoken by King Henry III, who tells the King of Castile and the Emperor of Germany,
You shall have welcome, mighty potentates.
It rests to* furnish up this royal feast:
Only your hearts be frolic, for the time
Craves that we taste of naught but jouissance.
Thus glories England over all the West!
*i.e. All that is left is for us to
Why am I quoting the last lines? I'll do this for all of the plays I describe, because their closing lines offer a glimpse of the imagery that would have rung in the audience's ears as they left the theatre. Here, as you can see, the climactic tone is one of joyous patriotism in the aftermath of Bacon's prophecy.
If you would like to read Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay, there is an online, old-spelling edition produced by the Queen's Men Editions. For a more reader-friendly experience, track down the modern-spelling annotated editions published in the 1960s by New Mermaids or by Regents Renaissance Drama; alternatively, you can find it in anthologies such as English Renaissance Drama: A Norton Anthology (2002).
It is even possible to watch a recording of the play in performance. In 2006, a team of scholars, actors, and directors created an experimental production of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay that attempts to reproduce as closely as possible some Elizabethan performance practices. The videos can be found at the Performing the Queen's Menwebsite; here is a direct link to Friar Bacon, but the videos are password-protected, so you must first obtain the password by contacting the webmasters.
If the play was John of Bordeaux...
This play is a sequel to Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay. It is of unknown authorship and survives only in a manuscript now held at Alnwick Castle.The manuscript is untitled; most scholars call it John of Bordeaux, but others call it The Second Part of Friar Bacon or Friar Bacon and John of Bordeaux.
In the play, Friar Bacon has returned to his study of magic, and gets involved with battles around the Italian city of Ravenna, which is being beseiged by the Turks and defended by the stalwart Sir John of Bordeaux. But Bacon's old enemy, the German magician Vandermast, is trying to discredit Sir John in order to aid the Emperor's son in his seduction of Sir John's wife. Magical adventures ensue, including demons and compulsive dancing. Far from relinquishing magic, Bacon this time uses it to save the day: after many reversals he proves to the Emperor his son's villainy using a magical show of the rape of Lucrece, and the play ends with Sir John of Bordeaux back in the Emperor's favour.
I wish I could tell you the last lines of the play, but unfortunately the final page of the manuscript is damaged. I will quote the fragments anyway, as they read like avant-garde poetry and make a rather groovy shape:
You will expect him
And since Sir John of B
Receive thy loyal subject
John to make
rossacl
tre a
er
renids
a leav
st not stale
come this way
fs
wrongs
If you would like to read John of Bordeaux, there is no modern-spelling edition available, so you'll need to struggle through the Malone Society's transcript of the damaged manuscript.
What we learn from this
One obvious thing we have learned here, at the beginning of our journey through Henslowe's Diary, is that Elizabethan audiences loved plays about magic: even if their magician hero virtuously renounces his spells in one play, he will be obliged to pick up his wand again in a sequel. No doubt they liked magic because these plays take every opportunity to use the special effects capabilities of English Renaissance theatres. Look at some of these examples:
Bungay conjures, and the tree appears with the dragon shooting fire (from Friar Bacon, Scene 9)
Here the Head speaks, and a lightning flasheth forth, and a hand appears that breaketh down the Head with a hammer (from Friar Bacon, Scene 11)
Thunder and lightning; enter [the demons] Asteroth and Rabsack (from John of Bordeaux, fol. 12)
Plays like these are contemporary with Christopher Marlowe's famous Dr Faustus and are full of the same imagery of devils and magic. The Harry Potter films are a good example of how this delight in magical special effects persists to the present day. And of course, duelling wizards are always popular:
What's next?
There will be no post tomorrow because 20 February was a Sunday in 1592 and the actors did not perform. So, the next post in Henslowe's Diary... as a Blog! will be on February 21. See you then.
FURTHER READING
Friar Bacon information
Martin Wiggins, British Drama, 1533-1642: A Catalogue, vols. 2 and 3 (Oxford University Press, 2012-13), entries 822 and 908.
Sally-Beth MacLean and Lawrence Manley, Lord Strange's Men and their Plays (Yale University Press, 2014), 93-6.
