10 May, 1592 - Titus and Vespasian

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

Henslowe writes: R at tittus & vespacia the 8 of maye 1592 ... xxx^s 

In modern English: Received at Titus and Vespasian, 10^th May, 1592 ... 30 shillings

Today, Lord Strange's Men revived Titus and Vespasian. This lost play was probably a gruesome tale about the Roman siege of Jerusalem in the 1st century; you can read more about it in the entry for 11th April.

Titus and Vespasian debuted a month ago, and had been taking impressive box office on its previous outings; clearly, the audience had been enjoying the novelty of this new play. But now, as is the way of all things, familiarity has made it just another average play.

Nicholas Poussin, The Destruction and Sack of the Temple at Jerusalem (1637)

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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