23 January, 1596 - The Second Week

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 22 of Jenewary 1595 ... ne ... R at the 2 wecke ... iij^ll 

In modern English: [23^rd] January, [1596] ... New ... Received at The Second Week ... £3

Today, the Admiral's Men performed a new play! Although it is lost, this play appears to be a sequel to The Seven Days of the Week, a play that had been extremely successful following its debut in June 1595 and which continues to be a part of the company's repertory.

19th-century Italian bracelet illustrating each of the seven days of
the week with a portrait of the deity associated with it.
From the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. 

Unfortunately, since the original play is also lost, it is hard to know what the sequel was about. One theory is that the first play was series of seven short playlets, so The Second Week may have been more of the same. Alternatively, the first play might have been about the creation of the world, in which case this one could have been a later story from Genesis.

The subject matter may be a mystery, but the sequel has attracted a large crowd, almost filling the Rose.

FURTHER READING

The Second Week information

• Martin Wiggins, British Drama, 1533-1642: A Catalogue, vol. 3 (Oxford University Press, 2013), entry 1029.

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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