21 April, 1592 - Harry VI

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

Henslowe writes: R at harey the vj the 21 of ap^rell 1591 ... xxxiij^s

In modern English: Received at Harry VI, 21^st April, 1592 ... 33 shillings

1540s portrait of King
Henry VI

Today, Lord Strange's Men performed Harry VI again. This play was almost certainly Shakespeare's First Part of Henry VI; you can read more about it in the blog entry for 3rd March.

Since the premiere of Harry VI in early March, the company has settled into a groove of performing it approximately once a week. But last week's outing was its weakest-ever showing at the box office, and today's was not much better. Harry VI is no longer a blockbuster, and can best be described as reliably solid.

• Friday, 3rd March - 75 shillings
• Tuesday, 7th March - 60 shillings
• Saturday, 11th March - 47 shillings
• Thursday, 16th March - 31 shillings
• Tuesday, 28th March - 68 shillings
• Wednesday, 5th April - 41 shillings
• Thursday, 13th April - 26 shillings
• Friday, 21st April - 33 shillings

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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