7 February, 1597 - Osric

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

Henslowe writes: Shrove mvnday | 7 | tt at oserycke ... | 00 | 14 

In modern English: Shrove Monday ... 7^th [February, 1597] ... total at Osric ... 14 shillings

It's Shrove Monday, a day for eating eggs and bacon in advance of the fasting period of Lent! Today, the Admiral's Men performed Osric, a play they had re-introduced to the repertory a few days ago; we know nothing about the subject matter of this lost play, but you can read more about it here.

Effigy of Osric, King of Hwicce, in Gloucester
Cathedral. Photo: Andrew R. Abbot, CC BY-SA 3.0

Shrove Monday does not tend to result in noticeably high box office; it seems to have ben a day for eating but not playgoing, and the box office for Osric is unimpressive.

Curiously enough, this is the final appearance of Osric in Henslowe's Diary, even though we have seen it only once before. For whatever reason, the company has revived it twice and then decided never to repeat the experiment. So, farewell, Osric! 

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!

3 February, 1597 - Osric

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

Henslowe writes: 3 | tt at oserycke ... | 01 | 09 

In modern English: 3^rd [February, 1597] ... total at Osric ... £1 and 9 shillings [i.e. 29 shillings]

Today, the Admiral's Men performed Osric, a play that we have not before seen at the Rose. Henslowe does not describe it as "new", so it must be an older play that the company has drawn from the archives.

Effigy of Osric, King of Hwicce, in Gloucester
Cathedral. Photo: Andrew R. Abbot, CC BY-SA 3.0

Like so much of the Admiral's Men's repertory, Osric is lost and we do not know what it was about. Several of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms had kings named Osric, but, as Martin Wiggins concludes in his catalogue of British drama, none of them is associated with any interesting stories. The identity of this play's protagonist thus remains a mystery.

The box office for Osric is unremarkable and does not suggest that it had been greatly missed during its long absence from the Rose. 

FURTHER READING

Osric information

• Martin Wiggins, British Drama, 1533-1642: A Catalogue, vol. 3 (Oxford University Press, 2013), entry 867.
• Roslyn L. Knutson, "Osric", Lost Plays Database (2019), accessed January 2021.

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!