12 April, 1596 - Barnardo and Philametta

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 12 of ap^relle ¹⁵⁹⁶ ... ester ^mvnday ... R at barnardo & fiameta ... xxx^s 

In modern English: 12^th April, 1596 ... Easter Monday ... Received at Barnardo and Phiametta ... 30 shillings

Welcome back! Today, on Easter Monday, 1596, the Rose playhouse has thrown open its doors after the long break for Lent, and has welcomed London's theatregoers back. It is the beginning of Easter Week, a time of festivity, feasting and sport - and, of course, plays!

The Rose will remain open for business until July. If you've been following this blog for a while, you'll be familiar with many of the plays that the Admiral's Men will stage over the coming months, but as always there will be some new ones to learn about too, including some deeply enigmatic lost plays.

Portrait of a couple by an unknown French artist, c.1610

However, it must be said that the new season has not begun auspitiously. The players have begun their new season with a revival of Barnardo and Philametta, a lost play on an unknown subject; you can read more about it in the entry for 30 October. And the results are rather disappointing. Easter Monday performances normally draw a large crowd of festive theatregoers, but today the Rose is only half-full.

Perhaps the lack of enthusiasm is due to the play: Barnardo and Philametta is a much-disliked play that has drawn some of the tiniest crowds ever recorded at the Rose. Today is a great result for this particular play but a disappointing one for a public holiday.  It may be no surprise to learn, then, that this is the final outing for Barnardo and Philametta, which will never again besmirch the Rose's stage. For what it's worth, here's a graph of its fortunes over the last few months (the high point was at Christmas).

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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