30 December, 1596 - That Will Be Shall Be

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

Henslowe writes: y^e 310 of desembȝ 1596 ... ne ... R at that wilbe shalbe ... l^s 

In modern English: 30^th December, 1596 ... New ... Received at That Will Be Shall Be ... 50 shillings

Today, the Admiral's Men premiered another new play, their fourth in as many weeks. Unfortunately, That Will Be Shall Be is lost and nothing is known about its content.

The title appears to refer to the unpredictability and inescapability of the future; the modern equivalent would be the song lyrics, "Que sera, sera, / Whatever will be will be", which is a good excuse for a bit of Doris Day:

But the saying goes back much further. Indeed, the Rose audience will have heard something very similar in the play of Doctor Faustus, last performed less than a fortnight ago; in the first scene, the protagonist sums up the doctrines of theology as, "Che serà, serà, / What will be, shall be".

Perhaps That Will Be Shall Be was a tragedy about a character doomed to an inescapable fate. But the tone of the title would seem better to suggest a comedy, and may be reminiscent of such Shakespearean titles as What You Will, As You Like It and Much Ado About Nothing. 

Whatever its content, That Will Be Shall Be has had a moderately successful premiere: the theatre is not full, but it is comfortably crowded.

A female archer tries to take down a war elephant. The man on the
right appears to share the sentiments of this play's title.
From the Smithfield Decretals (c.1340)

FURTHER READING

That Will Be Shall Be information

• Andrew Gurr, Shakespeare's Opposites: The Admiral's Company, 1594-1625 (Cambridge University Press, 2009), 94, 224-5
• Martin Wiggins, British Drama, 1533-1642: A Catalogue, vol. 3 (Oxford University Press, 2013), entry 1051
• Roslyn L. Knutson, "That Will Be Shall Be", Lost Plays Database (2020), accessed December 2020. 

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?

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