15 January, 1595 - The Wise Man of West Chester

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 16 of Jenewarye 1594 ... R at the wiseman of weaschester ... iij^ll 

In modern English: [15^th] January, 1594 ... Received at The Wise Man of West Chester ... £3

A man, who might possibly be
wise, carved on the choir
stalls of Chester Cathedral

Today, the Admiral's Men returned The Wise Man of West Chester to the stage. This lost play appears to have been about a wizard in the English city of Chester; you can read more about it in the entry for 3 December.

What a surprise! In the midst of a fairly lacklustre post-Christmas week, The Wise Man of West Chester, which had premiered on 3 December to unimpressive box office, has today drawn an enormous crowd. What has caused this flood of spectators? Is this play a sleeper hit, made popular by word of mouth?

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?

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