27 June, 1594 - The Massacre at Paris

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 25 of June 1594 ... R at the masacer ... xxxvj^s

In modern English: 27^th June, 1594 ... Received at The Massacre ... 36 shillings.

Henri, Duke of Guise, the villain of the play. 

Today, the Admiral's Men revived again Christopher Marlowe's play about the the evil Duke of Guise and his orchestration of the St Bartholomew's Day Massacre in 16th century Paris; you can read more about this play in the entry for 26 January, 1593.

Curiously, Henslowe has stopped calling it The Guise, which he had done as recently as last week, and is now calling it The Massacre, which is closer to the name by which it is known today, The Massacre at Paris. I wonder if the massacre scene had proven the most memorable thing about the play, causing Henslowe's mental image of it to change?

Marlowe's play had received very fine box office when the players restored it to the Rose stage last week, but today its receipts shrank to a merely average amount.

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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