Henslowe writes: ye 6 of maye 1596 ... ne ... R at tambercame ... xxxxvijsHere 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.
In modern English: [7th] May, 1596 ... new ... Received at Tamar Cam ... 47 shillings
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.
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| Persian illustration of Hulagu Khan (the likely inspiration for Tamar Cam) and his Christian wife |
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)
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