25 August, 1595 - A Knack to Know an Honest Man

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 25 of aguste 1595 ... R at the knacke to know a nonest man ... xvij^s

In modern English: 25^th August, 1595 ... Received at The Knack to Know an Honest Man ... 17 shillings

Hello and welcome back to another series of entries from Henslowe's Diary!

After a few months away for the summer, perhaps caused by London's summer of public unrest, the Admiral's Men have returned to the Rose playhouse to begin yet another season of drama; this one will last until the end of February.

Two  Young Venetian Men (anon., 1515)

The company has chosen to begin their new season with A Knack to Know an Honest Man, their comical moral romance set in Venice. You can read more about this play in the entry for 23rd October, 1594.

But the actors must be disappointed. They may have been expecting Londoners to flood to the re-opened theatre, delighted to see their much-loved plays returning. Instead, today's box office indicates a mostly empty theatre.

What went wrong? Was the weather bad (too hot, too rainy?), or were London's theatregoers insufficiently excited by the much-revived Knack? Either way, the Admiral's Men may feel a little deflated. They will need to bring out some more popular plays in the future.

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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