24 June, 1596 - Phocas

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 22 of June 1596 ... R at focas ... l^s

In modern English: [24^th] June, 1596 ... Received at Phocas ... 50 shillings

Phocas depicted in Richard
Rainoldes' Chronicle of all the
Noble Emperors of the Romans (1571)

Today was Midsummer's Day, a public holiday and a time for late-night bonfires and festivity! On this special day, 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.

After a disappointing performance last week, Phocas is today getting a tremendous boost from the festive atmosphere of Midsummer's Day; a very large crowd has shown up to see this Roman tragedy.

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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