8 July, 1596 - The Second Part of Tamar Cam

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 8 of July 1596 ... R at  2 p of tambercame ... xxiij^s

In modern English: 8^th July, 1596 .... Received at Second Part of Tamar Cam .. 23 shillings

Today, the Admiral's Men performed The Second Part of Tamar Cam, a lost play that dramatized the exploits of the Mongol conqueror Hulagu Khan;  you can read more about it in the entry for 28th April 1592.

From a 15th century French edition of Marco Polo:
Hulagu (on the left) orders the imprisonment of the
Caliph of Baghdad in his own treasure-vault to starve.

Just over a week after the last performance of The Second Part of Tamar Cam, the company is now experimenting with the play on its own, instead of the day after the first part. This has had no significant effect on box office, however, which remains mediocre.

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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7 July, 1596 - 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 7 of July 1596 ... R at wisman of weschester ... xvj^s 

In modern English: 7^th July, 1596 ... Received at Wise Man of West Chester ... 16 shillings

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

Today, the Admiral's Men revived 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 company seems to be continuing to perform the once-popular Wise Man of West Chester only once a month. As with a lot of recent performances at the Rose, the box office is disappointing; perhaps we are going through a period of bad weather.

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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6 July, 1596 - The Siege of London

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 6 of July 1596 ... R at sege of london ... xv^s 

In modern English: 6^th July, 1596 ... Received at Siege of London ... 15 shillings

Thomas Neville's siege of London, from a
1391 French manuscript

Today, for the last time, the Admiral's Men staged The Siege of London, an enigmatic lost play that might have portrayed the attacks on London by Canute in 1016 or by Thomas Neville in 1471. You can read more about this play in the entry for 27 December, 1594.

This is the last recorded performance of The Siege of London in Henslowe's Diary. The play has been treated very strangely by the company. They premiered it a year and a half ago, and it initially received good box office and was performed weekly for a while. But, as its box office began to decline, the company began staging it at very long intervals, sometimes with many months between performances. It's a strange thing to do, because the actors would need some effort to refresh their memories of the play each time one of these rare performances came along. Sometimes it's hard to understand their logic. 

Farewell, Siege of London! But there will be more sieges; the Rose audience really likes siege plays. 

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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5 July, 1596 - Phocas

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 5 of July 1596 ... m^r paid ... R at focasse ... xxij^s

In modern English: 5^th July, 1596 ... Master paid ... Received at Phocas ... 22 shillings

Phocas depicted in Richard
Rainoldes' Chronicle of all the
Noble Emperors of the Romans (1571)

Today, the Admiral's Men returned to Phocas, their tragedy about an army officer who became Byzantine emperor and ruled as a tyrant. You can read more about this play in the entry for 20 May.

After receiving a large crowd on Midsummer's Day a couple of weeks ago, it's back to normal for Phocas, with a mediocre showing. 


Today's entry also includes a note that Henslowe paid the license for the Rose to the Master of the Revels; you can read more about this in the entry for 8 November, 1595.

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 July, 1596 - Doctor Faustus

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 3 of July 1596 ... R at fostes... xiiij^s

In modern English: 3^rd July, 1596 ... Received at Faustus ... 14 shillings

Faustus summoning Mephistopheles: from the
1616 text of the play 

Today, the Admiral's Men revived Dr Faustus, Christopher Marlowe's famous tragedy about a scholar who sells his soul to the devil. You can read more about it in the entry for 2 October.

The company has waited three weeks to return Dr Faustus to the stage and it continues to attract only small audiences. This classic seems to be past its sell-by date.

What's next?

There will be no blog entry tomorrow because 4 July was a Sunday in 1596 and the players did not perform. Henslowe's Diary ... as a Blog! will thus return on the 5th. 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?

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2 July, 1596 - Troy

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 2 of Julye 1596 ... R at troye ... xxiiij^s 

In modern English: 2^nd July, 1596 ... Received at Troy ... 24 shillings

The sacking of Troy, from the title page of Thomas
Heywood's The Second Part of the Iron Age (c.1613)

Today, the Admiral's Men restaged Troy, their play about the Trojan War. You can read more about this play in the entry for 25 June.

This is the second performance of Troy and it's a disappointment. After a sell-out show for its premiere, the box office has collapsed, with the theatre less than half full. Perhaps the play did not live up to its promising title.

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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1 July, 1596 - Paradox

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 1 of Junley 1596 ... ne ... R at peth paradox ... xxxxv^s 

In modern English: 1^st July, 1596 ... New ... Received at Paradox ... 45 shillings

The Borromean
Rings, a
paradoxical
object

Today, the Admiral's Men premiered a new play! But this is a puzzling moment in the Diary. The play (now lost) carries the peculiar title of Paradox. And it will never be performed again after today's debut.

Paradox is a strange name for a play. Perhaps it refers to an enigma or difficult puzzle, in which case the play might have been of the same kind as another lost play, Crack Me This Nut, whose title means 'solve this problem for me'.

A paradox could also be an absurd statement. In his article on the play for the Lost Plays Database, David McInnis makes an intriguing observation. A 1607 joke-book entitled Jests to Make You Merry, which contains a "jest" by the playwrights Thomas Dekker and George Wilkins entitled "A Paradox in Praise of Sergeants". Like most jests of this period, it is immensely unfunny. It tells of a spendthrift gentleman in prison who befriends the sergeants watching him and rewards them with a 'paradox': a speech in praise of prisons. He describes prisons as being similar to a private home and as teaching wisdom through experience, and he describes sergeants as "cunning pilots that in all storms bring men safely to these havens of peace and contemplation". How amusing.

The book is too late to be a source for the play, but this jest makes reference to drama throughout (the reprobate gentleman is referred to as a "furious Tamburlaine" at one point) and was written by two playwrights, so it may have some distant connection with the theatre.

But whatever was seen on the Rose stage today, its reception may have been disastrous. Although the promise of a new play seems to have drawn a fairly large audience, but the company will never stage Paradox again. Perhaps it was less funny than a jest-book.

FURTHER READING

Paradox information

• David McInnis, "Paradox", Lost Plays Database (2011), accessed June 2020. 
• Martin Wiggins, British Drama, 1533-1642: A Catalogue, vol. 3 (Oxford University Press, 2013), entry 1038.

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!