10 June, 1595 - 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 10 of June 1595 ... post 83-0 ... R at the vij dayes of the wecke ... 
iij^s  vj^s 
In modern English: 10^th June, 1595 ... Received at The 7 Days of the Week ... 
£3 and 6 shillings

Today was Whit Tuesday, the second day of the Whitsuntide summer holiday! On this festive day, the Admiral's Men performed the 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. If you're wondering why Henslowe wrote "post 83-0" next to its name ... sorry, nobody knows.

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 is the third outing for The Seven Days of the Week and the festive season has resulted in a full theatre! The company must be pleased that this play has regained some momentum after its disappointing second performance.

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!

9 June, 1595 - A Knack to Know an Honest Man

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 9 of June 1595 ... ^{whitsun daie ll} ... R at the knacke ... lv^s

In modern English: 9^th June, 1595 ... Whitsunday ...Received at The Knack ... 55 shillings

Two  Young Venetian Men (anon., 1515)

Today was the first day of Whitsuntide, the annual multi-day holiday celebrating the beginning of summer! Londoners had time off and were in a festive mood, so for the Admiral's Men there is the chance of bigger and livelier audiences.

The actors chose today to revive A Knack to Know an Honest Man, their comical moral romance set in Venice. You can read more about this play in the entry for 23rd October, 1594.

The company has not performed this play for over a month, but the holiday has brought a large crowd to the Rose, giving a much-needed burst of energy to this aging comedy.
.

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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7 June, 1595 - Seleo and Olympo

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 7 of June 1595 ... R at  olimpio ... xv^s 

In modern English: 7^th June, 1595 ... Received at Olympo ... 15 shillings

Portrait of Two Friends by Pontormo (1524)

Today, the Admiral's Men revived Seleo and Olympo, a lost play about which we know nothing at all except that it must have been about two men.You can learn more in the entry for 5 March.

The company seems to be falling into a groove of performing Seleo and Olympo every ten days or so. But today's terrible box office does not seem to warrant the effort.

What's next?

There will be no blog entry tomorrow because 8 June was a Sunday in 1595 and the players did not perform. Henslowe's Diary ... as a Blog! will thus return on the 9th for the holiday week of Whitsuntide - 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!

6 June, 1595 - 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 6 of June 1595 ... R at the vij dayes of the weack ... xxxxiiij^s 

In modern English: 6^th June, 1595 ... Received at The 7 Days of the Week ... 44 shillings

Today, the Admiral's Men performed the 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.

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. 

The company has rushed The Seven Days of the Week back to the stage only three days after its successful premiere. But word of mouth does not seem to have been great; today's audience is much better than an average day at the Rose but is disappointing for a second performance.

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!

5 June, 1595 - Doctor Faustus

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 5 of June 1595 ... R at doctor ffostus ... xvij^s 

In modern English: 5^th June, 1595 ... Received at Doctor Faustus ... 17 shillings

Faustus summoning Mephistopheles: from the
1616 text of the play 

Today, Admiral's Men returned to Christopher Marlowe's famous tragedy Dr Faustus, in which a scholar summons a demon and sells his soul to the devil. You can read more about this play in the entry for 2 October.

The company has waited over a month to return Dr Faustus to the stage, but the audience is still very small.  They must be wondering whether to say goodbye to this classic play, despite its iconic status.

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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4 June, 1595 - The Wise Man of West Chester

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 4 of June 1595 ... R at the wisman of weschester ... xxij^s 

In modern English: 4^th June, 1595 ... Received at Wise Man of West Chester ... 22 shillings

A man, who might possibly be
wise, carved on the choir
stalls of Chester Cathedral

Today, the Admiral's Men returned to The Wise Man of West Chester, a lost play that appears to have been about a wizard in the English city of Chester; you can read more about it in the entry for 3 December, 1594.

The Wise Man of West Chester has dominated the Rose for a long time, but we are now seeing its box office shrinking to below average numbers. The audience must be finally tiring of the Wise Man, but it will be interesting to see how long it stays in the repertory after this.

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!

3 June, 1595 - 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 3 of June 1595 ... ne ... R at the vij dayes of the weacke ... iij^ll x^s 

In modern English: 3^rd June, 1595 ... New ... Received at The 7 Days of the Week ... £3 and 10 shillings

Today, the Admiral's Men performed a new play, The Seven Days of the Week. This play is lost and its title is, quite frankly, puzzling. How could a play be about the days of the week?

One possibility is that this was an anthology play telling seven short stories, each associated with a different week. Anthology plays were quite common in this period; we saw one a few years ago in Henslowe's Diary entitled Four Plays in One. It's hard to imagine what the stories could be about though; how exciting could a play about Wednesday really be? Perhaps it is significant that the seven days of the week were traditionally associated with the seven planets, which are in turn associated with Greco-Roman deities. Could the stories have been about the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn and the Sun?

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. 

Another possibility is raised by Martin Wiggins in his catalogue of British drama: perhaps the play dramatized the creation of the world by God over the course of a single week. In support of this, Martin Wiggins notes the existence of an Eve costume in Henslowe's inventory. But it seems less likely, since humans did not appear on the earth until after the seventh day, and it's also difficult to imagine how such things as the creation of light and darkness, or the separation of land from sea could be staged in an Elizabethan theatre.

We'll probably never know what The Seven Days of the Week was, but its premiere today attracted a huge audience that nearly filled the theatre.

FURTHER READING

The Seven Days of the Week information

• Martin Wiggins, British Drama, 1533-1642: A Catalogue, vol. 3 (Oxford University Press, 2013), entry 1003.

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!