5 December, 1594 - Mahamet

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 4 of desembȝ 1594 ... R at mahemet ... xj^s

In modern English: [5^th] December, 1594 ... Received at Mahamet ... 11 shillings

1629 Portuguese illustration of the Battle of Alcazar

Today, the company returned to Mahamet, which may survive today as The Battle of Alcazar. If so, it was a popular old play that told the story of Abd el-Malik's struggle for the throne of Morocco against the vicious usurper Muly Mahamet; you can read more about it in the entry for 21st February, 1592.

This is the first time in a month that the company has performed Mahamet. Box office takings during Advent continue to be lean, although this play is doing a little better than some others we've seen of late.

What's next?

There will be no blog entry tomorrow; Henslowe's dates for this week are muddled, but the simplest explanation is that there was no performance on 6 December.  Henslowe's Diary ... as a Blog! will thus return on 7 December - see you then!

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!