26 August, 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 26 of aguste 1595 ... R at the wisman of wescheaster ... xxxix^s 

In modern English: 26^th August, 1595 ... Received at The Wise Man of West Chester ... 39 shillings

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

Today, on the day after their return to the Rose playhouse, the Admiral's Men staged The Wise Man of West Chester, a lost play that 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, 1594.

After the extremely disappointing box office for yesterday's season opener, the company has today opted to stage one of its big hitters. The Wise Man of West Chester has been one of the greatest hits of 1595, bringing in astonishingly large audiences time after time. But it declined in popularity toward the end of the last season, and today's performance is another disappointment; while much better than yesterday, the theatre is still just over half full, and the company may be wondering what they need to do to excite the theatregoers of London.

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)

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