27 May. 1595 - The First Part of Hercules

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 27 of maye 1595 ... R at j pte of herculos ... ii^ll 

In modern English: 27^th May, 1595 ... Received at First Part of Hercules ... £[3]

Today, the Admiral's Men revived The First Part of Hercules, which retold some of the legends of the Greek mythological strongman, perhaps focusing on his Twelve Labours. You can read more about this play in the entry for 7 May..

Hercules fighting the Nemean Lion by
Francisco de Zurbarán (1634)

This is the third performance of Hercules part one and it continues to almost fill the Rose playhouse.

Incidentally, the diary entry reproduced above includes a rare error by W.W. Greg, the scholar who transcribed Henslowe's Diary in 1906: he mistakenly printed the box office as £2 rather than £3. The error is corrected in the 1961 transcription by R.A. Foakes and R.T. Rickert.

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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