10 August, 1594 - Cutlack

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 8 of aguste 1594 ... R at cvttlacke ... xiij^s vj^d

In modern English: 10^th August, 1594 ... Received at Cutlack ... 13 shillings and sixpence

Illustration of Belinus (or Brennius, it's not clear)
from Holinshed's Chronicles (1577)

Today, the the Admiral's Men revived Cutlack, their play about the eponymous Danish king and his violent intervention into a civil war in ancient Britain. You can read more about this play in the entry for 16 May, 1594.

Interest in Cutlack has been fading for a while. The players last performed it a week and a half ago, but today's box office is truly awful, just like that of The Jew of Malta yesterday. The coincidence of two thinly-attended performances in a row, however, makes me wonder whether the culprit is actually a patch of bad weather rather than the plays being staged.

What's next?

There will be no blog entry tomorrow because 11th August was a Sunday in 1594 and the players did not perform. Henslowe's Diary ... as a Blog! will thus return on 12th August for a week that will include two new plays!

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)

Comments?

Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!