4 April, 1594 - The Fair Maid of Italy

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

Henslowe writes: R at the fayer mayd of Jtaly y^e 4 of ap^rell 1593 ... xxiij^s 

In modern English: Received at The Fair Maid of Italy, 4^th April, 1594 ... 23 shillings

Portrait, supposedly of Simonetta
Vespucci, by Sandro Botticelli
(late 15th century)

Today, Sussex's Men and the Queen's Men revived The Fair Maid of Italy, a lost play that was presumably some kind of romantic comedy. You can read more about it in the entry for 12 January, 1594.

This play had been performed by Sussex's Men a couple of times back at the beginning of the year and it had never achieved good box office. Today's revival fared no better, receiving an audience smaller than the Rose's average.

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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