17 January, 1596 - 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: R at wissman of weschester ... xviij^s 

In modern English: Received at Wise Man of West  Chester ... 18 shillings

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

The date is missing from today's entry, but a process of deduction tells us that 17th January must be correct. On this day, 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.

The company has waited two and a half weeks to revive the once-popular Wise Man of West Chester, and it continues to receive unimpressive audiences today.

What's next?

There will be no blog entry tomorrow because 18th January was a Sunday in 1596 and the players did not perform. Henslowe's Diary ... as a Blog! will thus return on the 19th for a week that will include a new play. 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!