11 July, 1594 - Belin Dun

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 11 of Julye 1594 ... R at bellendon ...  xxvij^s 

In modern English: 11^th July, 1594 ... Received at Belin Dun ... 27 shillings

A highwayman portrayed in Richard

Head's The English Rogue (1666)

Today, the Admiral's Men once again performed Belin Dun, their lost play about the notorious robber who terrorized the highways around Dunstable during the reign of King Henry I; you can read more about this play in the entry for 10 June.

The players are continuing to perform Belin Dun approximately once every four days. The play is still earning solid box office, but it is strange that they are staging it more frequently than some of the other, equally reliable plays in their repertory. Could the reason be that the play is relatively new and the players want to get more comfortable at performing a play that promises to be a long-lived success?

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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