11 June, 1596 - The Second Part of Tamar Cam

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 11 of June 1596 ... ne ... R at  the 2 pte of tambercame ... iij^ll

In modern English: 11^th June, 1596 ... Received at The Second Part of Tamar Cam .. £3

Today, the Admiral's Men performed The Second Part of Tamar Cam, which has not been seen on the Rose Stage for many years! Like The First Part, which was revived on 7 May this year and has received several performances since, The Second Part hasn't been staged here since 1593. The play was a tale of war and wizardry that dramatized the exploits of the Mongol conqueror Hulagu Khan;  you can read more about it in the entry for 28th April 1592.

From a 15th century French edition of Marco Polo:
Hulagu (on the left) orders the
imprisonment of the Caliph of Baghdad in his own
treasure-vault to starve.

As with The First Part, this play was previously the property of Lord Strange's Men but has now apparently come into the hands of the Admiral's. Also as with The First Part, Henslowe describes the play as "new" even though it is not; perhaps the old playtext has been heavily revised for this revival. Either way, it seems the company has been happy enough with the response to The First Part to experiment with staging the sequel.

The sequel's return to the Rose has been greeted by an almost full house, so the company must be very pleased with their decision.

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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