8 February, 1595 - Doctor Faustus

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 8 of February 1594 ... R at docter fostes ... xviij^s 

In modern English: 8^th February, 1595 ... Received at Dr Faustus ... 18 shillings

Faustus summoning Mephistopheles: from the
1616 text of the play 

Today, Admiral's Men returned to Christopher Marlowe's famous tragedy Dr Faustus, in which a scholar summons a demon and sells his soul to the devil. You can read more about this play in the entry for 2 October.

The players seem now to be in a groove of performing Dr Faustus once a fortnight. Its box office is sliding downward, however, so the play's glory days appear to be over. We need some new plays at this theatre!

What's next?

There will be no blog entry tomorrow because 9 February was a Sunday in 1595 and the players did not perform. Henslowe's Diary ... as a Blog! will thus return on 10 February 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!