18 December, 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 18 of desembȝ 1595 ... m^r pd ... R at j pt of herculos ... xiij^s 

In modern English: 18^th December, 1595 ... Master paid ... Received at First Part of Hercules ... 13 shillings

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

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.

Today's entry includes a note that Henslowe paid the license for the Rose to the Master of the Revels; you can read more about this in the entry for 8 November.

The players have waited three and a half weeks to restage the once-popular Hercules. Today's box office is even lower than it was before. And the players will not bother with their usual practice of performing Part Two tomorrow.

What's next?

There will be no blog entries for a few days, as Henslowe's Diary suggests that the players took some time off, perhaps to relax before the busy Christmas season. Henslowe's Diary ... as a Blog! will thus return on the 22nd. See you then!

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!