Sunday 31 May 2020

31 May, 1596 - Pythagoras

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

Henslowe writes: ye 31 of maye whittsen mvnday ... R at pethageres ... iijll 

In modern English: 31st May, Whitsun Monday ... Received at Pythagoras ... 
£3

Pythagoras as portrayed in Raphael's
The School of Athens (1509-11)
It's a holiday! In 1596, May 31 is Whit Monday, the first day of Whitsuntide: a multi-day holiday celebrating the beginning of summer. Many Londoners would have had free time and would have been in a festive mood.  On this special day, the Admiral's Men have revived Pythagoras, their lost play about the Greek philosopher. You can read more about this play in the entry for 16 January

Sure enough, today's performance received splendid box office. Pythagoras has been getting mixed box office in its last few outings, but today a huge crowd has arrived to see the adventures of the Greek philospher. This is the first genuine full house since the Rose re-opened in April, and the players must be thrilled.

Henslowe links



Comments?


Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!

Friday 29 May 2020

29 May, 1596 - Chinon of England

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

Henslowe writes: ye 27 of maye 1596 ... R at chynone ... ixs

In modern English: [29th] May, 1596 ... Received at Chinon ... 9 shillings

The Knights of the Round
Table, from the Compilation
arthurienne de Micheau
Gonnot (1470)
Today, the Admiral's Men revived Chinon of England, their lost Arthurian drama about a fool who becomes a knight. You can read more about this play in the entry for 3 January.

It has been a week and a half since the company last performed Chinon, and the play's box office has been on a roller-coaster ride of late. After improve greatly last time, it has plunged into the depths today. You never know what you're going to get with this play.


What's next?


There will be no blog entry tomorrow because 30th May was a Sunday in 1596 and players did not perform. Henslowe's Diary ... as a Blog! will thus return on the 31st for the beginning of a holiday week. See you then!

Henslowe links



Comments?


Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!

Thursday 28 May 2020

28 May, 1596 - Harry V

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

Henslowe writes: ye 26 of maye 1596 ... R at hary the 5 ... xxiijs 

In modern English: [28th] May, 1596 ... Received at Harry V ... 23 shillings

King Henry V, posthumous portrait
(late 16th or early 17th century)
Today, the Admiral's Men performed Harry V, their play about King Henry V of England, who, according to legend, gave up a dissolute lifestyle and led his country to victory against the French at the Battle of Agincourt before his untimely death. You can read more about this play in the entry for 28 November.

Although not particularly impressive in its own right, the box office for Harry V is higher than its last outing a month ago. There have been signs this week that audiences are growing for some plays, perhaps as the weather gets warmer.


Henslowe links


Comments?


Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!

a

Wednesday 27 May 2020

27 May, 1596 - The First Part of Tamar Cam

Here's what the Admiral's Men performed at the Rose playhouse on this day, 424 years ago...
Henslowe writes: ye 25 of maye 1596 ... R at  tambercame ... xxs

In modern English: [27th] May, 1596 ... Received at Tamar Cam ... 20 shillings
Today, the Admiral's Men revived Tamar Cam, a lost play that told of war and wizardry during the exploits of the Mongol conqueror Hulagu Khan; you can read more about it in the entry for 28th April 1592.

The company has waited only a week to bring back Tamar Cam but today's performance is a disappointment. Previously, the play had been receiving impressively large audiences, but now the box office has suddenly declined by more than half.

Persian illustration of Hulagu Khan (the likely inspiration for Tamar Cam) and his Christian wife


Henslowe links



Comments?


Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!

Tuesday 26 May 2020

26 May, 1596 - Fortunatus

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

Henslowe writes: ye 24 of maye 15956 ... R at ffortunatus ... xiiijs 

In modern English: [26th] May, 1596 ... Received at Fortunatus ... 14 shillings

Fortunatus receives the magic purse from
Lady Fortune (from the 1509 novel)
Today, the Admiral's Men revived Fortunatus, which was probably the first of a two-part play, and was the precursor of Thomas Dekker's Old Fortunatus; it told the story of a man who miraculously acquires infinite wealth. You can read more about it in the entry for 3rd February.

The players have waited two weeks to revive Fortunatus, and the box office continues to decline gradually.


Henslowe links



Comments?


Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!

Monday 25 May 2020

25 May, 1596 - Phocas

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

Henslowe writes: ye 23 of maye 1596 ... R at tragedie of ffocasse ... xxxixs

In modern English: [25th] May, 1596 ... Received at Tragedy of Phocas ... 39 shillings

Phocas depicted in Richard
Rainoldes' Chronicle of all the
Noble Emperors of the Romans (1571)
Today, the Admiral's Men returned to Phocas, their tragedy about an army officer who became Byzantine emperor and ruled as a tyrant. You can read more about this play in the entry for 20 May.

This is the second performance of Phocas, and the company will be cautiously pleased with its box office, which is above the average for the Rose.


Henslowe links



Comments?


Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!

Sunday 24 May 2020

24 May, 1596 - Pythagoras

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

Henslowe writes: ye 22 of maye 1596 ... mr pd ... R at pethageros ... xxvijs 

In modern English: [24th] May, 1596 ... Master paid ... Received at Pythagoras ... 27 shillings

Pythagoras as portrayed in Raphael's
The School of Athens (1509-11)
Today, the Admiral's Men revived Pythagoras, their lost play about the Greek philosopher. You can read more about this play in the entry for 16 January

The players have waited three weeks to revive Pythagoras. Interestingly, over the last few performances the box office for this play has been rising slightly, rather than falling, an unusual thing to see in the Diary.

Today's entry also 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, 1595.

Henslowe links



Comments?


Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!

Thursday 21 May 2020

21 May, 1596 - Julian the Apostate

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

Henslowe writes: ye 20 of maye 1596 ... R at Julyan apostata ... xiiijs 

In modern English: [21st] May, 1596 ... Received at Julian Apostate ... 14 shillings

Julian depicted in Giovanni
Battista Cavalieri's Romanum
Imperatorum
(1583)
Today, for the last time, the Admiral's Men returned to Julian the Apostate, a lost play about the Roman emperor who tried to reverse the empire's adoption of Christianity.

This is only the third performance of Julian the Apostate, but it's also the last. The play's box office has sunk to a dismal level already, and after today's performance the company will call it quits.You win some, you lose some; perhaps The Tragedy of Phocas, another play about the later Roman Empire that premiered yesterday, will do better.


What's next?


There will be no entries for the next two days; for some reason, Henslowe records no performance tomorrow and 23rd May was a Sunday. Henslowe's Diary ... as a Blog! will thus return on the 24th - see you then!


Henslowe links



Comments?


Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!

Wednesday 20 May 2020

20 May, 1596 - Phocas

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

Henslowe writes: ye 19 of maye 1596 ... ne ... R at tragedie of ffocasse ... xxxxvs

In modern English: [20th] May, 1596 ... New ... Received at Tragedy of Phocas ... 45 shillings

Today, the Admiral's Men premiered a new play! Sadly, The Tragedy of Phocas is yet another lost play, but the title informs us that it was a tale from 7th century Byzantine history. Phocas was a lowly army officer who led a revolution, became emperor, turned tyrannical, and was ultimately overthrown himself.

As David McInnis shows in his article for the Lost Plays Database, we can speculate on how Phocas's story may have been dramatized by looking at other retellings of his story by Elizabethan writers. Overall, summaries of Phocas's life makes him sound like a rather generic exemplar of the wheel of fortune (the usurper usurped), but perhaps the playwright was able to make the play more distinctive by focusing (ha!) on Phocas's strengthening of the power of the Pope, which was his one significant act as emperor.

The stories of Phocas


A coin depicting Emperor Maurice
In 602, the Byzantine Empire was ruled by Emperor Maurice. According to William Covell in his Polimanteia (1595), a prophetic dream warned Maurice that he would be killed by "a servant of his named Phocas", so he

sent for the Captain Philippic to come out of prison, and demanded of him if there were not one named Phocas; the other answered that there was such a one, a centurion, ambitious and fearful. Whereupon the Emperor said, alleging an old proverb to that end, "If he be a coward, he is a murderer." (50)

This Phocas, writes Richard Rainoldes in his Chronicle of All the Noble Emperors of the Romans (1571), was "a base centurion and a Thracian" who was created emperor during a "seditious uproar" (165). Some Elizabethan texts portray Maurice as a holy man in contrast with Phocas. Covell claims that when Phocas slew Maurice's wife and children in front of his eyes before preparing to behead him, the defeated emperor "spake often in this manner: 'O Lord thou art just and so are all thy works'" (51).

Phocas depicted in Rainoldes'
Chronicle (1571)
Phocas's reign was one of tyranny. Rainoldes itemizes his crimes thus: "he took away other men's wives from their husbands, he made much of wicked persons, he wasted the Roman Empire of their riches and treasures, he lived at Rome in all beastly drunkenness, and suffered the Roman Empire to be spoiled [by] the Persians, of the Huns" (165).

Phocas did, however, make one decision with far-reaching historical effects: he decreed that the Roman Pope, at that time Boniface III, was "universal bishop" over all other Christian bishops, quashing a similar claim by the Patriarch of Constantinople. For the rabid anti-Catholics of the 1590s, this was the beginning of Roman Catholic tyranny; for example, Thomas Bell in his Survey of Popery (1596) fulminates, "whosoever either calleth himself 'universal priest', or desireth so to be called, is for his intolerable pride become the precursor of Antichrist, and that because in his proud conceit he prefers himself before all other". Since Boniface obtained his power from "the bloody and cruel tyrant Phocas (who ravished many virtuous matrons and murdered the good Emperor Mauritius with his wife and children)", Bell concludes that this was the moment when "the Beast of the Revelation began to prepare the way for Antichrist" (187-88). It is possible, then, that the playwright may have presented Phocas and the Pope as twins of megalomaniacal evil (it's also possible though, that there was a bit more nuance...).

A coin depicting Heraclius
Perhaps, then, the audience cheered when Heraclius usurped Phocas and brought about his tragic end. Either way, his end would most likely have been gruesome: Rainoldes claims that when Heraclius's men captured Phocas and brought the defeated emperor before him, "immediately the men of war cut of his legs and arms, and cut off his privities, and last of all his head. This was the end of that tyrant" (165).


Box office


The story of Phocas sounds like a crowd-pleaser, but, as so often with this season's premieres, the box office is disappointing. On an ordinary day, it would represent a good-sized audience, but in previous years a debut performance would have filled the theatre. The Admiral's Men are struggling to draw large audiences to their new plays.


FURTHER READING



Tragedy of Phocas information


  • Richard Rainoldes, A Chronicle of all the Noble Emperors of the Romans (1571)
  • Thomas Bell, The Survey of Popery (1595)
  • William Covell, Polimanteia, or, The Means, Lawful and Unlawful, to Judge of the Fall of a Commonwealth Against the Frivolous and Foolish Conjectures of this Age (1595)
  • David McInnis, "Phocasse (Focas)", Lost Plays Database (2011), accessed May 2020. 
  • Martin Wiggins, British Drama, 1533-1642: A Catalogue, vol. 3 (Oxford University Press, 2013), entry 1056.

Henslowe links



Comments?


Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!

Tuesday 19 May 2020

19 May, 1596 - The Bind Beggar of Alexandria

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

Henslowe writes: ye 18 of maye 1596 ... R at beger ... xxxxixs

In modern English: [19th] May, 1596 ... Received at Beggar ... 49 shillings

Beggars in Alexandria; an undated photograph
from Brooklyn Museum's Lantern Slide Collection
Today, the Admiral's Men revived The Blind Beggar of Alexandria, a comedy by George Chapman about a master of disguise. You can read more about this play in the entry for 12 February.

The company has waited less than a week to return The Blind Beggar to the stage. Yet the already-impressive audience has actually increased. This play is a genuine crowd-pleaser.


Henslowe links



Comments?


Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!

Monday 18 May 2020

18 May, 1596 - The First Part of Tamar Cam

Here's what the Admiral's Men performed at the Rose playhouse on this day, 424 years ago...
Henslowe writes: ye 17 of maye 1596 ... R at  tambercame ... xxxxvjs

In modern English: [18th] May, 1596 ... Received at Tamar Cam ... 46 shillings
Today, the Admiral's Men revived Tamar Cam, a lost play that told of war and wizardry during the exploits of the Mongol conqueror Hulagu Khan; you can read more about it in the entry for 28th April 1592.

The company has waited only a few days to bring back Tamar Cam and it continues to achieve excellent audiences. The company must be very pleased with the decision to blow the dust off this old play.

Persian illustration of Hulagu Khan (the likely inspiration for Tamar Cam) and his Christian wife


Henslowe links



Comments?


Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!

Sunday 17 May 2020

17 May, 1596 - Chinon of England

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

Henslowe writes: ye 16 of maye 1596 ... R at chynone ... xxxiijs

In modern English: [17th] May, 1596 ... Received at Chinon ... 33 shillings

The Knights of the Round
Table, from the Compilation
arthurienne de Micheau
Gonnot (1470)
Today, the Admiral's Men revived Chinon of England, their lost Arthurian drama about a fool who becomes a knight. You can read more about this play in the entry for 3 January.

It has been two weeks since the company last performed Chinon, and today's performance is surprisingly successful - previously the play had seemed to be on the way out, but the Rose is half-full today.

Henslowe links



Comments?


Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!

Thursday 14 May 2020

14 May, 1596 - The Jew of Malta

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

Henslowe writes: ye 14 of maye 1596 ... R at the Jewe of malta ... xxiiij 

In modern English: 14th May, 1596 ... Received at The Jew of Malta ... 24 shillings

Caravaggio's portrait of the Grand
Master of the Knights of Malta,
1607-8.
Today, the Admiral's Men revived The Jew of Malta, Christopher Marlowe's satirical comic tragedy. You can read more about this play in the blog entry for 26th February 1592.

As with The Blind Beggar yesterday, The Jew of Malta has pulled in a slightly larger audience than on its last outing. Perhaps the weather is improving?  


What's next?


There will be no entries for the next two days; for some reason, Henslowe records no performance tomorrow and 16th May was a Sunday. Henslowe's Diary ... as a Blog! will thus return on the 17th for a week that will include a new play - see you then!

Henslowe links



Comments?


Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!

Wednesday 13 May 2020

13 May, 1596 - The Blind Beggar of Alexandria

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

Henslowe writes: ye 13 of maye 15956 ... R at blind beger ... xxxxs

In modern English: 13th May, 1596 ... Received at Blind Beggar ... 40 shillings

Beggars in Alexandria; an undated photograph
from Brooklyn Museum's Lantern Slide Collection
Today, the Admiral's Men revived The Blind Beggar of Alexandria, a comedy by George Chapman about a master of disguise. You can read more about this play in the entry for 12 February.

The company has waited a week and a half to return the popular Blind Beggar to the stage. The result has been an uptick in the size of the audience; this play remains the company's best bet.


Henslowe links



Comments?


Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!

Tuesday 12 May 2020

12 May, 1596 - The First Part of Tamar Cam

Here's what the Admiral's Men performed at the Rose playhouse on this day, 424 years ago...
Henslowe writes: ye 12 of maye 1596 ... R at  tambercame ... xxxxvs

In modern English: 12th May, 1596 ... Received at Tamar Cam ... 45 shillings
Today, the Admiral's Men revived Tamar Cam, a lost play that told of war and wizardry during the exploits of the Mongol conqueror Hulagu Khan; you can read more about it in the entry for 28th April 1592.

After a series of small audiences for other plays, the company must be relieved that a large crowd has shown up for this second performance of the newly revived Tamar Cam. Perhaps this experiment is paying off?

Persian illustration of Hulagu Khan (the likely inspiration for Tamar Cam) and his Christian wife


Henslowe links



Comments?


Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!

Monday 11 May 2020

11 May, 1596 - Fortunatus

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

Henslowe writes: ye 11 of maye 15956 ... R at fortunatus ... xviijs 

In modern English: 11th May, 1596 ... Received at Fortunatus ... 18 shillings

Fortunatus receives the magic purse from
Lady Fortune (from the 1509 novel)
Today, the Admiral's Men revived Fortunatus, which was probably the first of a two-part play, and was the precursor of Thomas Dekker's Old Fortunatus; it told the story of a man who miraculously acquires infinite wealth. You can read more about it in the entry for 3rd February.

The players have waited three weeks to revive Fortunatus, and there has been no change to the box office.


Henslowe links



Comments?


Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!

Sunday 10 May 2020

10 May, 1596 - Julian the Apostate

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

Henslowe writes: ye 190 of maye 15956 ... mr pd ... R at Julian apostata ... xxvjs 

In modern English: 10th May, 1596 ... Master paid ... Received at Julian Apostate ... 26 shillings

Julian depicted in Giovanni
Battista Cavalieri's Romanum
Imperatorum
(1583)
Today, the Admiral's Men returned to Julian the Apostate, a lost play about the Roman emperor who tried to reverse the empire's adoption of Christianity.

This is only the second performance of Julian the Apostate, but things are not looking good, as the theatre is less than half full. It seems unlikely that this play will be a hit.

Today's entry also 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, 1596.

Henslowe links



Comments?


Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!

Friday 8 May 2020

8 May, 1596 - Crack Me This Nut

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

Henslowe writes: ye 7 of maye 1596 ... R at cracke me this nvtte ... xvijs

In modern English: [8th] May, 1596 ... Received at Crack Me This Nut ... 17 shillings

Dessert Still Life by Georg Flegel (1566-1638)
Today, the Admiral's Men returned to Crack Me This Nut. We know nothing about the content of this lost play, but you can read more about it in the entry for 5th September.

The company has not performed Crack Me This Nut since February. As with a lot of the recent revivals, the box office suggests no great excitement or enthusiasm about its return.


What's next?



There will be no blog entry tomorrow because 9 May was a Sunday in 1596 and the players did not perform. Henslowe's Diary ... as a Blog! will thus return on the 10th for a week that will include a new play. See you then!


Henslowe links



Comments?


Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!

Thursday 7 May 2020

7 May, 1596 - The First Part of Tamar Cam

Here's what the Admiral's Men performed at the Rose playhouse on this day, 424 years ago...
Henslowe writes: ye 6 of maye 1596 ... ne ... R at  tambercame ... xxxxvijs

In modern English: [7th] May, 1596 ... new ... Received at Tamar Cam ... 47 shillings
Here is a surprise! We last saw the two-part Tamar Cam over three years ago, back in January 1593 when it was being performed by Lord Strange's Men. Now, the Admiral's Men have somehow acquired it. Confusingly, Henslowe describes the play as "new" even though it is not; perhaps the old playtext has been heavily revised for this revival.

The Tamar Cam plays, now lost, were tales of war and wizardry that dramatized the exploits of the Mongol conqueror Hulagu Khan; you can read more about Part One in the entry for 28th April 1592. They seem to have been designed to imitate Christopher Marlowe's Tamburlaine plays, which the Admiral's Men have been staging recently but abandonded back in November. Perhaps the company hopes that Tamar Cam will be a more popular replacement. Today's performance has drawn a large audience, but, ominously, it has not filled the theatre despite its lengthy absence from the stage.

Persian illustration of Hulagu Khan (the likely inspiration for Tamar Cam) and his Christian wife


Henslowe links



Comments?


Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!

Wednesday 6 May 2020

6 May, 1596 - Dr Faustus

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

Henslowe writes: ye 5 of maye 1596 ... R at docter ffostes... xxs

In modern English: [6th] May, 1596 ... Received at Doctor Faustus ... 20 shillings

Faustus summoning Mephistopheles: from the
1616 text of the play 
Today, the Admiral's Men revived Dr Faustus, Christopher Marlowe's famous tragedy about a scholar who sells his soul to the devil. You can read more about it in the entry for 2 October.

The company has waited two and a half weeks to return Dr Faustus to the stage. Its box office is slightly better, but still unimpressive.

Henslowe links



Comments?


Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!

Tuesday 5 May 2020

5 May, 1596 - Pythagoras

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

Henslowe writes: ye 4 of maye 1596 ... R at pethagorus ... xxs 

In modern English: [5th] May, 1596 ... Received at Pythagoras ... 20 shillings

Pythagoras as portrayed in Raphael's
The School of Athens (1509-11)
Today, the Admiral's Men revived Pythagoras, their lost play about the Greek philosopher. You can read more about this play in the entry for 16 January

The players have waited two weeks to revive Pythagoras. Box office is slightly better but still mediocre.

Henslowe links



Comments?


Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!

Monday 4 May 2020

4 May, 1596 - The Blind Beggar of Alexandria

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

Henslowe writes: ye 3 of maye 1596 ... R at the blinde beger ... xxxvs

In modern English: [4th] May, 1596 ... Received at The Blind Beggar ... 35 shillings

Beggars in Alexandria; an undated photograph
from Brooklyn Museum's Lantern Slide Collection
Today, the Admiral's Men revived The Blind Beggar of Alexandria, a comedy by George Chapman about a master of disguise. You can read more about this play in the entry for 12 February.

Returned to the stage after only a week, The Blind Beggar continues to be the company's biggest hit. Its box office is down from last week but it's still doing better than any other play.


Henslowe links



Comments?


Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!

Sunday 3 May 2020

3 May, 1596 - Chinon of England

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

Henslowe writes: ye 2 of maye 1596 ... R at chinon ... xxs

In modern English: [3rd] May, 1596 ... Received at Chinon ... 20 shillings

The Knights of the Round
Table, from the Compilation
arthurienne de Micheau
Gonnot (1470)
Today, the Admiral's Men revived Chinon of England, their lost Arthurian drama about a fool who becomes a knight. You can read more about this play in the entry for 3 January.

The company has waited a week and a half to return to Chinon. There is no change to its box office, which remains static at 20 shillings.


Henslowe links



Comments?


Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!

Friday 1 May 2020

1 May, 1596 - The Wonder of a Woman

Here's what the Admiral's Men performed at the Rose playhouse on this day, 424 years ago..
Henslowe writes: maye daye 1596 ... R at wonder of a womon ... xxijs 

In modern English: May Day, 1596 ... Received at Wonder of a Woman ... 22 shillings

Artemesia Gentileschi, Allegory of
Fame (early 1630s)
Today was May Day, a public holiday! The Admiral's Men have chosen to celebrate with The Wonder of a Woman, a lost play that you can read more about in the entry for 16 October.

This is a big disappointment for the company. The May Day holiday usually brings floods of theatregoers into the Rose, but today only a paltry crowd has shown up for The Wonder of a Woman. Whether this is due to bad weather or the unpopularity of the play, Henslowe must be frustrated.


What's next?


There will be no blog entry tomorrow because 2nd May was a Sunday in 1596 and the players did not perform. Henslowe's Diary ... as a Blog! will thus return on the 3rd May for a week that will include a new(ish) play. See you then!

Henslowe links



Comments?


Did I make a mistake? Do you have a question? Have you anything to add? Please post a comment below!